My second photo of the week highlights a theme that, I suspect, will feature a great deal in the coming weeks: spectacular scenery. Rather than go for the obvious Milford Sound, even in the gloom, I've picked a photo taken later the next day looking up Lake Wakatipu towards the mountains around Glenorchy. We were driving along the road when this scene suddenly appeared as we rounded a corner. I stopped the van, jumped out and took this before the light disapppear...

Waiting to go for a helicopter flight over Mount Cook but cloud needs to clear. Very frustrating. At 8.45 this morning we had perfectly clear blue skies. 10 minutes before the flight is due to leave - at 10.00 - I'm still being told it was going ahead. But now cloud has come in and everything's on hold. Mind you however disappointing it is for me it won't match the come down for the couple who were due to come on the flight and get married up on the glacier. The...

I ended yesterday's blog by saying we were looking forward to our walk today. Well we had a walk but got rather more than we'd bargained for. We were looking forward to the Lake District, we got the Scottish Highlands. We'd seen what looked like a good walk on the map. Circular - unusual in New Zealand, good tracks - many old miner's tracks by the looks of it. Yes it went up to 1200m but we would be starting at over 300 so no problem there. The only issue was th...

Queenstown - self styled 'adventure capital of the world'. Sitting on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains, this is Ambleside on speed. There are more ways here to part with your money by risking life and limb than you have ever imagined. Bungy jumping (invented here in 1988), white water rafting, jetboating, river surfing, whitewater sledging, base jumping, canyoning, mountain biking, paragliding...the list seems endless. And if the adrenalin fue...

Rain, rain...come again? (Te Anau, 23 Feb 2012) Fiordland rejoices in the reputation as one of the wettest places in the world. Some parts get 8m of rain a year (that's 26 feet to you limeys). That's over twice as much as the wettest place in Britain (in Snowdonia if you're interested). Even Te Anau, which is in the rain shadow of the mountains, gets 1.2m (47"). So it wasn't that surprising when we woke up to the sound of rain this morning. What was less expecte...