After a very cold damp night about a couple of hours drive from Christchurch in Peel Forest including an attempted walk which ensured Stewart had completely sodden footwear, we decided to move on from there.

Next stop Lake Tekapo with its mountain fringed backdrop, incredible turquoise coloured water and complete with its twee little stone built Scottish style church in front of the breathtaking mountain scenery. Population - just 300.

We headed to the hills and camped up - we are beginning to wear out this phrase - in the middle of NOWHERE. The scenery is awesome, nobody there, This is New Zealand South Island ! !

Tuesday was walk time - around Mount John & its observatory. That included a Chinese wedding party who were up there taking unforgettable wedding photos complete with bride in full wedding dress. Apparently the air is so clear and unpolluted here that it's one of the best places in the world for star gazing. That night you could clearly pick out not only the stars but the geo-stationary satellites for TV , telecommunications & GPS. You could clearly see the wings & solar panels of the satellites. Or had Stewart had one glass too many!!!

Wednesday was mountain biking time - serious stuff. We also discovered what skiing is all about in NZ. Basically they have mountains just like in the alps in Europe but NO people live here & there are NO ski lifts. The mountains are virgin untouched. So their idea of a "ski resort" is basically a 40km drive down a track- literally a TRACK- and then you get to one single solitary drag lift, in the middle of NOWHERE. NO accomodation, NO food, NO facilities. You drive there, ski a bit, drive home. That's it - skiing in NZ. Ever wondered why they have never had any ski champions ? - come here & you will understand immediately;

So for mounatin biking NZ style, substitute the following. Drive 30km down a dusty track. Park van in the middle of NOWHERE. Pedal 6km uphill to ski resort(closed in summer, no access to vehicles) - took1hr45 the gradient was so steep. It was HELL on pedals. Then pedal 13km down an unbelievable glacial plateau. The scenery was unbelievable, the isolation scarey. There was no-one there, no-one had been there recently, just the odd marker pole to show the mtb trail, you could die there & you had the impression someone might find you in the next 2 months. What a place. Then once back on the lakeside "road" you had 7km of gravel track to struggle along. Result - what a day. 30km of some of the hardest and probably the remotest mountain biking we have EVER done in our lives. People not far off 60 years old probably shouldn't be out there doing this sort of stuff ! ! ! !