At one with the boulders:
After recovering from our wine tasting tour we got back on the road and decided to make our way across country via beautiful Arthurs Pass. We made a few detours along the way namely whale watching in Kaikoura (Jen, Mark decided that he would rather ramble around the countryside than see giant sperm whales, perhaps Neptune had a disagreement with them - who knows!), hot springs in Hamner Springs for some R&R, then to Christchurch for some shopping and finally on to Akaroa for some more rambling in the clountryside. We made it on to Arthurs Pass - New Zealands incredibliy scenic alpine route- just as the sun was setting on the the snow capped peaks, it was one of the most increedible drives either of us have ever done. The best part was the discovery of Castle Hill an area of huuuuggggeeee limestone boulders just sitting at the top of a hill (being consistently eroded and shaped by the elements - I am geographically minded now don't you know!), as there was little light we decided to come back the following day to investigate. We set up camp in a hostel/lodge just down the road and discovered we were sharing it with a strange American guy who ended up teaching us all we ever needed to know about the art of bouldering (climbing/scrambling up boulders without the aid of technical equipment). The following day was spent putting our new found knowledge in to action - no gear, no idea comes to mind! After a good few hours of attempting to shove each other off huge boulders we decided to call it quits and get back on the road. Our last destination on the alpine highway was a very creepy little town where Mark could relieve his desperation to fish. So we set up camp in a creepy little camp site in the hope Mark would catch our dinner. He had disappeared for ages which left me thinking that a meal of gourmet salmon/trout/or any other fresh water fish was coming my way, instead Marky returned mumbling something about pesky eels! A dinner of chocolate and crackers followed. The following morning we left early and made our way to Franz Josef Glacier.