Hey!

In the past couple of days I have been to Able Tasman National Park and Barrytown (stopping off at lots of other nice places along the way too).

At Able Tasman we stayed at Old Macdonalds farm. We were literally staying in plastic shed with no heating - and with toilets and showers outside. It was very cold in the mornings and over night let me tell you! But at least it was clean! Anyway by the time we got there after a day on the bus I was really too tired to notice.

I spent the next day walking around the national park. It is right on the coast line, so we followed the coastline up stopping to look at the lovely beaches and massive tree covered mountains behind us. I took loads of pics of the beautiful scenery - but the coastline did sort of remind me of Northumberland. We walked for about 4 hours then caught a boat back along the coast. I was really tired by the time we got back so I made myself some tea (now that I am a backpacker rather than a flashpacker - I have reverted back to the good old student days of pasta every day) and went to bed.

The following day we set off for Barrytown a really small place with nothing there but pub. On the way we had lunch at a really pretty lake, and also stopped off at some cool caves and some other cool pancake rocks.

The pub in Barrytown survives on the backpaker trade and offers an extension on happy hour if you dress up (they kindly supply you with 4/5 boxes of dressing up clothes). So the boys dived in first finding all the lovely flowery dresses to wear, whilst the girls got what was left - mainly the mens clothing. The boys really did enjoy wearing those dresses..........maybe a little too much (were the handbags really necessary?). Anyway it was a fun night. I surprised myself by remembering how to put on a tie for the first time since middle school - not bad going! But I didn't feel so good this morning - the wine was cheap and very nasty.

Today I had a walk down on the beach at Barrytown to try and find some green stone (Jade). I wasn't successful - all the stones look green down there until they dry then you realise that you just have a handful of stones in your pocket. Anyway it was good to get some fresh air. Also the beach down there was fantasic, it is grey and with the sea and the greay sky it made for a good photo.

Tommorrow I am climbing the Franz Joseph glacier - one of the only places in the world where a glacier and a rainforest meet. The pictures look fantastic and I can't wait!

Well I had better go and get the pasta on.........

Love Louise xxx.