Hi peeps,

We didnt stay in Lake Wanaka for more than a night, though we had our first warm night in our new tent! We decided to head down to Queenstown on our way to Te Anau. Lake Wanaka was really beautiful, you can see why its a favourite holiday spot for the Kiwis. Jo found her dream shop there, 'the bead shop'. Every inch of the wall was covered with pots of every conceivable type of bead in which to make necklaces and wristbands. Unfortnuatly we were a tad too hot to sit down beading for an hour, so we may pop back on our way to Fox Glacier.

The drive to Queenstown was stunning, lots of mountains and valleys. Queenstown is the hub of adrenalin junkies, lots of interesting ways to lose your money. We were good, but did spend a small fortune on hiking gear for the Milford track. We headed onto Lake Te Anau ('cave with swirling water', second largest lake in NZ) from there.

Have spent the last three days in Te Anau doing walks. We met a nice english couple and went for a knackering 8.5 hr walk along the start of the Kepler Track. Not many photos for that walk, as it was in the forest and we were too busy nattering. On the way we went to the Te Anau wildlife centre and saw more bloody Keas! Yesterday we rowed (!) across Lake Manapouri (second deepest lake in NZ) to a 3.5 hr circular walk. It was in the rainforest and we had to scramble up the steep muddly hills using tree roots. It felt like real exploring! We saw a very friendly fantail (a twitchy bird the size of a bluetit with a large fanned white tail).

We plan to spend the next couple of days practising walking with packs up towards Milford Sound. On Saturday we start the Milford track (a Four day/three night trek). Its 53.5km long starting from Te Anau Downs to Milford Sound. You sleep in huts, but need to bring all your food and sleeping gear. Wish us luck!

After the walk we are doing the cruise around the Sound. Then we sleep! We plan to move onto the Fox Glacier via Lake Wanaka (again!). We shall add more photos after we have done the track.

Love

Matt and Jo

XXX