So as we set off for our epic drive to Christchurch, the wind and rain stopped for a few blissful hours and gave us this last gorgeous glimpse of the Franz Josef glacier - it's up there on the left, honest! This journey is rather more epic than planned, as the Tranzalpine railway (our next planned big adventure) is shut...all this rain has caused a landslip which has shut Arthur's Pass. And closed the railway. And the road...Grr! So now it's a seven hour drive up...

Two days, two glaciers! This one is bigger than Fox, but the walk to it was longer - though much easier terrain and only one mountain stream for me to wobble over the stepping stones! You can't get so close to this one, but it's still pretty amazing. I thought the rocks looked beautiful, but Andy tells me they're schist...

The photo shows the end of the glacier, the nearest you can get on foot. Truly breath taking. Literally - the last bit was so steep I needed a good ten minutes to recover my breath! There was a sign saying "no stopping - rockfall area". I decided to take my chances with the rocks....! We then went for a walk round Lake Matheson, through a wood that was so like Fangorn Forest it wasn't true. We keep seeing Lord of the Rings locations everywhere, some of which w...

Fresh snow across Lake Wanaka as we set off this morning. Another stunning drive, over Haast Pass and up the west coast, to the little village at the foot of Fox Glacier. Lots of rain around still...several more impressive waterfalls on our journey! Sitting in the shadow of Mount Cook now, double the height of Ben Nevis. At least, that's what they tell us - I can't see it at all through the clouds at the moment...! Hoping for some brighter weather tomorrow.

Snow down to about 1000 metres overnight yesterday. And the news channel tells me it's 28 degrees just north of Christchurch! Bet it won't be by the time we get there on Sunday. But wow - can't complain when it's just so dramatic!