Oh my word, whose idea was it to go to South Island at this time of year? As we flew into Queenstown, flanked by snow-covered mountains on each side, I knew it was going to be cold! Those who know me well know that; I hate snow, being cold and wet, and driving on roads with sheer drops. Well, that's all happened, plus more and I am a nervous wreck!

Queenstown was delightful, we loved it and stayed longer than we probably should have. The town is nestled on the shore of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains, most of them covered in snow at the top. There are several ski runs and the town has a lot of buzzy bars and restaurants. The gondola ride to the top of one of the mountains was so steep that I couldn't look down at first. However, you soon become acclimatized to the height and, by the end, I was taking photos of the Remarkables, another mountain range on the far side of Queenstown, from the edge of the viewing platform. The chairlift then went even higher to the luge. The luge ride down was awesome. The first time I went too slow as I was scared of going over the edge, lol, but then I got used to the height and the views and by the fifth time down I was loving it and keeping up with Bob. We did pass on the bungee though! We also went on TSS Earnslaw, a steamer built in 1912, that used to be a cargo ship carrying sheep and cattle to the remote stations (farms) but is now a passenger cruise boat. They have opened up the engine room so you can see the stoker and the pistons working, and put in a bar that served mulled wine (guess where I was)!!

We were also lucky to do a daytrip to Milford Sound from Queenstown. We chose to go by coach, even though it is a 4 hour drive each way, as we wanted to see the scenery, which was well worth the drive. I say lucky because, as we left Milford Sound, it started to snow and the pass was covered. The driver said he thought the road would be closed the next day and so it was, and still is four days later! The boat trip around the Sound, or fiord, was excellent, and we even ventured briefly out into the rough waters of the Tasman Sea. The skipper gave a running commentary, and put the bow of the boat so close to two waterfalls that people who were in the front got soaked! Bob ran for cover and I cowered under the front of the boat. We also saw Southern fur seals swimming and basking on the rocks. A great day out - even driving back the same way for 4-hours wasn't boring as the scenery was now snowy and so totally different!It looked like a Christmas card scene!

We also practised our driving skills along the scenic route to Glenorchy and Paradise. We are now travelling in a Pathseeker - basically a converted Ford Transit van that we have nicknamed 'Trannie"! She's far smaller than Winnie, but more suited to the roads in NZ. She has got a shower, loo and kitchen area but we have to make the bed up every night which is a bit of a pain. We chose the size of the van deliberately so that Winnie will seem huge to us when we get back to her! However, the idea that we could freecamp has gone by the wayside - it's so cold that we need to be on a powered site to keep the heater on all evening!!

Next stop was Arrowtown, a former goldrush town, which had a fantastic museum. I have never been a huge museum fan but I have to say the ones we have visited in Oz and this one are so good as you can touch the exhibits. Some things are behind glass but the rest you are encouraged to touch which is so nice. This one had exhibits from the gold rush times and depicted life as it was back then. Bob opened the door to the lavatory and jumped a mile as a bloke sitting on the loo shouted "Oi, what are you doing?" - one of the many models!!

Then on to Wanaka, where we had been recommended to visit the Paradiso cinema. I have never been to the cinema on holiday but we duly booked in for the 5:30pm showing of '6 Days'. We turned up early for a glass of wine and were then personally shown into Screen 2, along with our wines! We had a choice of sofas or leather chairs, all with loads of leg room and arm rests for drinks. At the intermission hot cookies were produced, more wine was served and, only when everyone had returned to their seats, did the performance resume. Such a lovely, quirky place, and the film was good too!

And so to yesterday, and the drive from Wanaka to Franz Josef. I can honestly say I have never been so scared on a road. We started off in pouring rain, which gradually turned to snow as we got higher. The scenery was stunning though, and there were occasional breaks when the sun came out. As we approached the Haast pass the snow started to come down and we were wondering whether to continue or not. We had no internet signal so couldn't check the highway website, which had said the road was fine when we started. We stopped at a café and asked their advice. Apparently no warnings had been issued for the road so they advised to proceed and just drive to the conditions! So we set off gingerly, snow covering the road. Well, good old Trannie got us up some very steep, snowy hills. I was clinging to my seat, moaning and groaning to the effect of "Why are we doing this?" while poor Bob was concentrating on the driving. The roads were weird, the snow came and went, and then we did a very, very steep, snowy descent. I don't think we got out of 2nd gear for 5kms! Phew, we had cleared the pass. We relaxed. Wrong!! We passed the mighty ocean at Bruce Bay, which was so rough that it had deposited loads of stones and rocks all over the main road, which was being cleared as we passed. We then started to head inland towards Fox Glacier. The snow started to fall again, the roads were covered, we passed snow-ploughs and the roads got steeper and then we had to negotiate snow-covered hair-pin bends. Bob slowed to a crawl in second gear (thank God he was driving!) and we somehow managed to ascend and descend safely, unlike the 'Jucy' campervan we saw that had slid into the rocky ditch at the side of the road. Could have been worse had it been on one of the sheer drops!! I was so scared that I forgot to take any photos, sorry!!

We arrived at the campsite and collapsed. Neither of us had realised how tense we had got and we were both so relieved to have made it over the pass without incident. We then found out that they had just closed the pass for the night, so we were lucky to have made it over! Apparently this is very late in the season for them to have so much snow.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow as we are meant to be doing a helicopter trip to the glacier and then a 2-hour guided glacier walk. But more of that in the next blog!!