Another very wet birthday (my 40th in Melbourne was also very very wet), but had some lovely pressies from mum, my sis and Kath that made it all the way out here as well as bubbles from the guides and a card from the other two guests. So very lovely and a nice meal out in the evening to a fish restaurant, Fishbone - where dessert came with a birthday candle!

So mum and I are on our own in Queenstown staying in one place for three nights - time for washing!

The day before we had stayed in a really small place called Makarora near Wanaka again in a house - this time full on 80s decor including the brightest yellow toilet I have ever seen. Although wet we had a BBQ (well Lofty cooked the meat on it and we ate it inside). The lamb was beautiful! The rain lasted all night and the walk up a mountain we were supposed to do didn't happen as it was deemed too dangerous due to the amount of water making it too slippery. So we opted for an easier climb up a smaller mountain called Mount Iron which had supposedly great views at the top - but it was so wet and misty we couldn't see much. But it was a good climb and leg stretch - albeit still quite short - less than 2 hours - maybe a bit of a relief due to the need for full on wet weather gear. We had time for a 'coffee' in Wanaka and I've discovered my new coffee shop drink of chai latte - yummy and finally makes me feel part of the coffee shop drinking culture without the actual coffee!

Then onto lunch in a very old pub - a replica of which was shipped to England and down the Thames apparently - no idea why. Also half the pub went to the owners ex wife as part of a divorce settlement and was taken apart and moved with her. So a bit of a quirky place all in all. Food was typical pub grub and made a change. It was still wet so the fires inside and outside the pub were welcome but not what I was expecting in summer in the southern hemisphere.

Finally we visited Arrowtown - an old gold mining town still very quaint and we did a quick walk around in the drizzle including looking at an old Chinese mining settlement before heading into Queenstown. Apparently we travelled through stunning 'Lords of the Rings' scenery but we didn't see much of anything as the rain contined to pour. When we arrived at the hotel we also said goodbye to our guide H so just left with Lofty after our free day in Queenstown.

So on waking up on our free day it wasn't raining but we saw snow had fallen on the mountains (at least we could see a view of the
mountains and the lake from our room- hardly anything had been visible the day before). We headed 10 mins down the hill to town where we had a scrumptious and relaxed breakfast at Vudu - banana bread for me and pancakes for mum. Then a wander around Queenstown. Quite a chilled out town but very touristy for adrenalin junkies - obviously just like me (not).

So mum and I opted for a guided wine tour instead of the bungee. In hindsight I wish I'd done some research on where to go and who to go with. Instead out of the two recommended wine tours in LP - we went for the one our guides recommended and opted for a two winery, lunch and cheesery trip. Central Otago Pinot Noir is one of my favourite wines so I was really looking forward to it. I enjoyed it (again with just two other Brits) but it wasn't worth the money and didn't wow me.

The next day we were picked up for what was supposed to be a trip up the Gondola and then another harder day hike up a mountain. When Lofty picked us up, he said with the snow he suggested we did the morning walk planned for a few days time and save the mountain for when the snow had melted. This sounded sensible although I think we were all looking forward to a bigger hike than we had been doing. It was also cold - about 13C - thermal top and hat were unpacked!

So we headed out around Lake Wakatipu to 12 Mile Delta where we hiked the Sam Summers Track - an area mined for gold until the 1930s. It was a lovely walk with evidence of the gold mining era including an old homestead but more of a hut - three hours solid walking with a bit of up and down and fascinating to see what damage the sluicing had done. Beautiful views of two lakes. Lunch was supposed to be a famous pie in the bakery in town - but we all opted for sandwiches and ate inside due to the cold!

That afternoon the others went to Te Anau - 2 hours away as they had opted for a different set of walks. We felt a bit dumped back in Queenstown expecting a full day hike. So we had yet another half day free and had to organise our own dinner (a bit of a sore point as we has paid for full guiding and food... we will be writing an email!). Early evening we headed down into town for our planned briefing for the next three day of our trip - the Hollyford Track organised by a different company. We met up with 12 others we would be with - Americans, Kiwis, Aussies and me and Mum. The briefing was basically what to pack to enaure we kept it light as we would be carrying or own gear and to go through the 3 day itinerary. Quite exciting but strange to be with a new group of people.