01/06/08 Our alarm went off at 5.30 this morning and we had to crawl out of bed as it was pretty cold. We managed to get a taxi to the airport with our friend Clare fairly promptly and after checking in at the airport for the hundredth time this trip, we made our way to the waiting lounge. After waiting for about an hour or so we boarded the plane and after 3 hours we landed in a miserbale and fairly chilly Christchurch. We decided to rent a car for our New Zealand leg as we found it really easy in Australia, not to mention the flexibility, so we chose a 1.8 automatic Mitsubishi Lancer. After all the briefing we drove out of the depot and into the city centre where we checked into one of the many backpacker hostels. Travelling seemed to tire us out so we jsut realxed in the lounge for an hour or so before we headed out into the city for some dinner. We found most of the restaurants too expensive for us so we ended up having a Subway sandwich where we sat talking to a man from Crewe for half an hour about music and New Zealand! 02/06/08 We started the morning by walking through the city centre to find some breakfast and a coffee. We were told by many people that the centre was really boring an unattractive but we actually found it to be really old-fashioned and quite interesting with a river flowing around the centre acting like a moat. The main attraction of the city is obviously the cathedral that was built over 120 years ago as it is an amzing structure and has a number of impressive features such as the stained glass windows. After we had finished looking around the cathedral we decided that we had seen most of the city so we headed off inland towards the toen of Timaru. This sleepy town is about 2 hours south west of Chrsitchurch and as it was the 'Queens Birthday Weekend' nothing was open so we had to resort to having 2 large pizzas for $15 - ironically at a special price for the Queens birthday. We took back the pizzas and went to bed pretty early! 03/06/08 For once, we had a really really comfortable bed so we slept in for a bit before finally geting up! Our destination for the day was Lake Tekapo which is about 2 hours west of Timaru. We drove through barren, flat landscapes for a while before arriving at a small town called Fairlie, where the landscape dramatically changed to snow capped mountains and turquoise blue lakes. We arrived at Lake Tekapo in beautiful sunshine around lunchtime so I decided to have fish and chips while Heather had some soup. We then carried on to the backpackers which was situated right on the waterfront and had an amazing view across the lake. Because we had arrived so early we decided to go for a walk. We chose to hike up Mount John, which, despite not being very high was quite hard work at the summit as we were exposed to really high winds. After arriving at the cafe on top of the mountain wind blown, we settled down for a hot chocolate and took some photographs of the amazing views across the valleys and lake. We were also quite fortunate in the fact that we had relatively clear skies so the sun relected off the tops of the mountains which were covered in a blanket of snow. We descended down the mountain at a much quicker pace and after relaxing in the hostel for about an hour, we once again took off, this time to the outdoor ice rink where we took part in a game of curling. I am sure that everyone watched the winter olympics a few years ago when we won gold, but I can assure you, it is much harder than it looks! We spent about 2 hours trying to perfect our curling technique but only on a handful of occasions did we get the stone in the inner circle. After 2 hours of fun we finished and headed back to the hostel where we had dinner and went to bed. 04/06/08 Despite the lure of a warm bed and a toasty room, we dragged ourselves out of bed quite early and made our way to the beach. It was ridiculously cold and we both wore about 4 layers but we had an amazing walk as there was still mist, the mountains had snow on the tops, and the beach was frozen solid! We amused ourselves by cracking all of the ice on the ground for a while before we headed back to the hostel where we packed our bags and set off for Mount Cook. We drove for a few hours, stopping off in the town of Twizel to grab some lunch, before arriving at the Mount Cook YHA. This hostel was fantastic with great facilities and a really cool alpine feel, but it was overshadowed by the impressive Mount Cook (highest peak in Australasia) and the surrounding glacial valley. The valley was extremely flat and quite barren, but out of nowhere the mountains rose like skyscrapers and surrounded most of the valley in shade despite the clear skies and endless amount of sunshine. We also found out that this was the location for Gondor in the third Lord of the Rings Film. After we had unloaded the car, we set off on a 2 hour walk up to the end moraine of the Tasman Glacier and the foot of Mount Cook. The walk was called Kea Point after then number of Kea parrots that patrol the area, but unfortunately for us we did not see any. We did however see a couple of people stuck up on one of the surrounding mountains and after a few minutes of shouting, we decided to go back and get some help. We ran into a local who drove us back to the township and by the time we had got to the visitors centre the people who were stuck had managed to phone the YHA and inform them that they were safe. As darkness was falling rapidly we decided to go for a short walk up to a place called the Blue Pools, but they were actually green and had started to freeze. We spent the evening watching the film Donnie Brasco. 05/06/08 We woke up to crystal clear skies and beautiful sunshine making the mountains and valley look even more impressive. We decided to retry walking around the Blue Pools so we set off along the unsealed road that led to the Tasman Glacier. By the time we arrived the frost was already starting to melt in the sun so we quickly made our way down to the glacial lake to get a glimpse of it before the sun rose and reflected off of the water. We were rewared with a stunning view of the glacier and Mount Cook as well as a large number of floatig icebergs which were either really white or really dirty as a result of the rock base which the ice passes over. We managed to climb down the rocky hill and get some great pictures of the icebergs before we clambered back up and headed for the car. As the day was still young we decided to make up on any lost time so we headed straight for the town of Wanaka. On the way we stopped numerous times to take photographs of the lakes and the mountains before we again stopped for Lunch at Twizel, and again having a pie! The drive to Wanaka was quite long and the roads were relatively frosty still, but we eventually made it to Puzzle World situated just outside of the town. We had been informed of this place by Jamie before we even got to New Zealand, so we decided to check it out. The building consisted of 4 separate rooms, each full of illusions - holograms. moving faces, the angled room, and one other. The final room was the best although I cannot think of an appropriate name for it! It was a room with checkered squares on the floor and a ceiling that looked to be straight, however, as you walked from one end to the other, you gradually got closer or further away (depending on where you started) from the ceiling. This was used in the Lord of the Rings and we both had great fun taking photos and videos of us changing in size. After the puzzles we attempted to complete the maze that was located in the garden, but this proved to be quite difficult. The aim was to reach each of the 4 corners and then back to the start within half an hour. Again, Heather won this challenge, so we drove on with her in high spirit. We found our way to the Wanaka YHA and watched the film The Life of David Gale before cooking up a storm in the kitchen. We started talking to an english guy who had similar interests to myself (soil and land management) so we ended up going for a few beers down the pub. About 10pm we headed back to the hostel in the freezing cold but were pleased to discover that the hostel provided us with extra blankets and even a hot water bottle so went to bed quite happy! Alex