So we find ourselves in Wanaka staying at the Purple Cow Hostel with a fantastic view of the lake and mountains and the best kitted out kitchen yet! We fell immediately in love with Wanaka - its just gorgeous. Everything is so clean and fresh and everyone is so happy to be outdoors - there really are more reasons to be outside even though the weather is getting colder by the day. So we spent our time walking around the lake, or sitting by the lake drinking coffee, Steve played football with some other guys from the hostel and I even got the motivation up to go for a couple of runs.....the first time since leaving the U.K. We got excited by driving up to Cardrona which is the nearest mountain for skiing - even though the snow is yet to fall. Such is the beauty of Wanaka there is even a Hollywood film being made at the moment called "10,000 B.C.", although no idea who is in it as they didn't mingle in town with us commoners! Our plan was to settle for the winter in Wanaka, find some work and accommodation and ski for the season. However, as the days went by and the hostel filled up with more and more travellers wanting to do the same, it dawned on us that our big plan may be harder to accomplish than we had first ben led to be believed. There were no jobs and the "come back in a month" chant from local businesses echoed in our heads. There was also no accommodation and being only a small place, competition was cut throat when something did come up. So, instead we spent money! We convinced ourselves that it was all a good deal and essential items including, skis, poles, boots, snowboard boots, jackets and trousers soon filled the back of the van. We even found Marmite in the supermarket which completely made my day...Kiwi vegemite is just a disgusting alternative! One of the town's unique selling points is the Cinema Paradiso. It could be described as cool kitsch and it was a fantastic way to watch a movie. The room is filled with old sofas and reclining chairs, and also an old car which has been revamped for you to lounge around in whilst watching the film. There's an intermission which allows you to buy the yummiest home baked cookies we had ever tasted. You can eat your dinner and have a glass of wine whilst watching the film....I could go on and on but it was a really good night out. So, after spending several days exploring and falling into the Wanaka way of life we made the decision to head to Queenstown to search down work...but leaving was hard and we could definitely see us having a gorgeous little holiday home overlooking the lake in the future!!!!