A five thirty start and a two hour bus journey to Milford sound to kayak for the day. Milford sound is a glacial fjord with the famous Mitre Peak, the most photographed mountain in fiordland. Under the perfect weather conditions and very early in the morning the waters of Milford Sound reflect the vista totally, leading to amazing postcards and posters. The beauty and scale of the fjord is not exaggerated in the photos. The small waterfalls in the distance are around 200m high and almost 10km away. Trees cling to the side of sheer rock faces, after many years growth on moss and lichen, the forest becomes too heavy to support itself and peels away into the waters of the fjord. The process of forest regeneration is started again when mosses and lichens re-colonise the ... read more

Went with Clare, Phil and Laura to Te Anua, Clare’s car is properly broken, not fixable. She now has to hitch. Laura was nice enough to give all three of us a lift. It’s a familiar story shared by backpackers around the world. Stayed in the Barnyard backpackers, we have a small cottage with a marvellous view. It’s very open plan, kitchen, sitting, dining rooms and six beds all in the same room. The view looks out across farmland, and over to mountains. Deer in the field in front of the cottage bray at sunset and dawn. Went on an ecology walk into a wilderness scientific reserve near Te Anua. Professor Allan Mark explained the history of the wilderness, the roles of the moss, bog pine and the problem of yet more introduced species. This time ... read more

New years day. To celebrate the New Year and recover from hangovers we went on a walk. Laura, Clare and I went walking; Phil went to celebrate the English New Years with a pint at 12pm. The Rob Roy Track in Mount Aspiring National Park, is one of the most wonderful places I have been. The steep, interesting 2hr climb to the tree line through native woodland along the valley of the Rob Roy Stream is so beuatiful. The hangover left after only a few moments. At certain points a view of sky, mountain peaks, glaciers just below, waterfalls dropping thousands of feet down sheer valley walls onto lush green grassland and forest and the bubbling rapids of the Rob Roy Stream are all visible in one view. At the top of the walk at the ... read more

Wanaka is a small town population 4000 on the edge of Lake Wanaka, the 4th largest lake in New Zealand, having driven past it the previous day I estimate it to be around 50km long and 5km wide. Behind the lake looking north is the mountain range of which Mount Aspiring is the highest peak. The countryside is reminiscent of Scotland. The craggy hill and mountain sides have been cleared of trees and bush and are now filled with livestock, mostly sheep. Rocks jut from the sides of the mountains. In the last ice age glaciers had scrapped along the edges of these valleys, with the snow-capped peaks visible in the distance it feels colder than it really is. Anders and I both wanted to go rock climbing, neither had done it before so paid for ... read more

We arrived in Greymouth on the 23rd of December, about 6pm. Had a nice meal of spaghetti bolognaise, and drank some wine, getting ready for Christmas. The next day, we went bicycling down to the beach, Robin booked a train to Christchurch, she needed to fly from there on Christmas day. We went to the Warehouse a New Zealand version of Kmart, where everyone gets a bargin. We got each other Christmas presents - I got a Plastic Kiwi Policeman to live on my backpack and a water pistol - Anders got a water pistol and chocolate, Robin who bought the water pistols got wet, she didn’t have one. Got my hair cut, and said goodbye to Robin as she boarded the Tranz Alpine Railway. Went out in the evening with everyone we could gather from ... read more