Snowed in on July 31st!!

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Hello everyone,

That's right, we've had loads of snow and got stuck in Lake Tekapo yesterday - the roads were all closed and there was nearly a foot of snow on the ground!

Anyway what have I been doing for the last two weeks? Well after Franz Josef I got the bus down to Fox Glacier, which was quite similar to Franz but less touristy - nice for a bit of peace and quiet. However, as soon as I arrived it started raining really heavily so I stayed in for most of the first day, only going outside to stock up on food supplies and to take some photos of the amazing sunset over the mountains. The hostel had a good selection of films so I didn't get too bored! The next day I managed to get out for a walk as the rain cleared up - I walked up to the glacier and did a loop around the valley. Fox is better than Franz in a way as you can get closer to the ice without a guide, and the glacier looked more imposing and much higher, probably because there was an ice fall near the snout. There was a really cool ice cave from where the meltwater was issuing too, so all in all I'm very glad I visited both glaciers.

After Fox I rejoined the Magic Bus, stopping at Lake Matheson for a walk and photos, and then on to Queenstown, which was absolutely FREEZING! It was a nice cold though - although it stung your face, it was sunny at least and there were amazing views over The Remarkables (good name for the mountains) on the drive into Queenstown. Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ so I was expecting it to be a bit crazy (especially as everyone converges on it in winter for the skiing) but it was actually very nice. The first night we arrived I went out for a Fergburger (famous gourmet burgers - very large!) with James (a fellow Magic Bus traveller I met in Franz) and the next day I went on a coach and cruise trip to Milford Sound in Fjordland, with Jana and Valerie (also from the Bus). This required a journey of 5 hours to get there, but it was worth every minute, as the scenery was absolutely amazing after the early morning mist had cleared. The drive was through Fjordland National Park and passed through huge glacially carved valleys with snow-capped peaks on either side. At one point we went through a really long tunnel (Homer Tunnel) under a mountain and emerged on the other side. Looking back, all we could see was a blank rock wall and it was hard to believe we'd come through it! Milford Sound itself was fantastic, very beautiful and we were incredibly lucky with the weather as there wasn't a cloud in the sky (bearing in mind it had been cloudy and raining on and off for the past few days). The cruise started at the head of the Sound and went out to the Tasman Sea and back. On the way we saw loads of waterfalls and steep cliffs and mountains, and on the way back the boat took a detour so we could see seals and dolphins (I tried to get a picture of them jumping out of the water but it was impossible!). The pilot also decided to bring us really close to the biggest waterfall so we got soaked by the spray!! It was freezing on deck and really windy so most people stayed inside but I stood on deck the whole time and managed to get windburnt!! We also got marvellous views of Mitre Peak, which is like the symbol of Milford Sound. The journey back was only 4 hours and the driver put on a DVD so it passed quite quickly. Quite a few of the people on our bus decided to fly back on a scenic flight over the mountains - we were very jealous but couldn't really justify the expense! The second day in Queenstown I got up early to go up the Gondola (cable car), which is the steepest cable car I've ever seen!! It goes up Bob's Peak and looks over the town. I was glad I went up early because although it was very cold (-7C at the top!) there was absolutely no one up there and it was easier to appreciate the enormity of the mountains and Lake Wakatipu. There's a luge at the top but it was iced up when I was there (good excuse not to go on I think!), so instead I walked around the Loop Track, which gives good views all around the mountain. I spent most of the morning up there and then went for a walk in the Queenstown Gardens next to the lake and to St Peter's Church, a little stone church in the middle of town which is very picturesque.

The next day it was time to move on to Dunedin, a short drive this time thank goodness! Dunedin is supposed to be the Scottish city of NZ, as it's where a lot of the Scottish people settled. Dunedin even means Edinburgh in Gaelic! It does feel quite Scottish, especially as on the day we arrived it was raining! We got there around lunch time and I started off my visit by going to the Cadbury's chocolate factory with Jana. The tour itself was pretty rubbish, particularly as it was a Sunday so we didn't get the tour of the factory part, but the free chocolate made up for that so we were happy!! Later on I walked around the city, which is really nice as it's quite small and has lots of old looking buildings. I went to visit the Cathedral and the First Church of Otago (the first Presbyterian Church built in the area - very impressive) and then walked up a hill for a fantastic view of Dunedin and Otago Harbour at dusk (albeit in the rain!). Most people were only staying one night in Dunedin, so the next morning I said goodbye to the Magic Bus people and set off on a walk to Mt Cargill, north of the city. I got the bus up to Baldwin Street (the steepest street in the world - it's in the Guiness Book of Records) and climbed to the top (along with the Magic Bus people as the Bus had stopped there on the way). I then walked to the start of the walkway and proceeded to walk for about 6 hours in the rain with absolutely no view from the top of Mt Cargill!!! Luckily it started to clear slightly on the way down so I got some views of Otago Harbour and the Organ Pipes (10 million year old lava that surprisingly actually does look like organ pipes!). I ended up on the main road quite far from the city centre so had to walk for about 1 1/2 hours along the road into town, with frequent lorries passing by and soaking me with spray!! But at least I had a walk and didn't let the rain spoil the day! The next day I had planned to go out to the Otago Peninsula and do a coastal walk, but for some reason the bus didn't turn up, and the next one wasn't for 3 1/2 hours (!!) so I decided to get the bus to Tunnel Beach instead. This is a walk along the coast on the south western side of the city, through farmland. It was definitely worth going there - the coast there has loads of caves, arches and stacks and the sea was really rough when I went (it was raining again!) so there were lots of huge waves booming into blowholes and through arches. There's a tunnel through the cliff down to the beach (some guy built it for his family to use in the last century) so I went through there and sat on a rock just looking at the sea for ages, then proceeded to slip over on a rock and get covered in mud (both me and the camera!!).

On Wednesday I got the bus to Lake Tekapo. The journey was very pretty again but (surprise surprise!) it was raining so we didn't see a great deal. We stopped at Moeraki to look at the famous boulders, which are very round, and arrived in Tekapo around 4pm. Our driver Colin was very annoying and kept giving us commentary we really didn't want (and he also looks just like Mr Bean!!) so we were quite glad to get there. Most of us stayed in Lakefront Lodge, which is a very nice wooden chalet style building right on the edge of the lake (although we couldn't see much of the view!). I met up with James again there and also Meg and Sam who he'd met in Dunedin. I planned on going for a walk up to Mount John the next day, and Meg and Sam were supposed to be getting the bus, but when we woke up it had snowed so much over night that there was nearly a foot on the ground and the road was closed!! So we were snowed in, in July!! Very strange!! It was actually really nice though as practically the whole bus was stuck there and we all bonded!! A few of us mounted an expedition to the village shop in the morning (as Colin had warned us last time they got snowed in it was for three days and all the power went off!!) and then went to the Church of the Good Shepherd (very scenic place on the edge of the lake where lots of people go to get married) and the famous statue of the Collie Dog (tribute to the sheepdogs of the Mackenzie region), where we built snowmen!! It turned into a bit of a competition, but I have to say that the snowman built by Meg, Sam and me was much better than James and Rachel's snowman!! I don't think I've ever had enough snow in England to built such a good one - we even had carrots for noses and hats and scarfs and gloves! We made it back to the hostel and warmed up by the fire, and then Sam suggested starting a jigsaw. This turned out to be a bit of a marathon task, as the jigsaw(s) in question were actually wasjigs (very confusing puzzle where the picture is not what's on the box but is either what happened next or a backwards picture) AND there were two of them mixed together!!!! It was completely impossible but we gave it a good stab (spent about 10 hours on them!) and then left a note for the next people asking them to try and finish them!! I don't suppose anyone will be that mad though - we were really regretting getting into it by the end!! In the evening we watched The Descent, which I have to say is the scariest film I've ever seen and has definitely put me off caving for life!! Everyone laughed at my screaming!

On Friday the snow had finally cleared enough for the bus to depart so I said goodbye to everyone (literally everyone was leaving) and then caught a different bus to Mount Cook Village. Unfortunately I had to pay much more than expected for the bus as the normal bus doesn't run during winter, and I was really worried that I wouldn't even get to see Mount Cook itself as the weather was still very grey and raining. When we arrived I walked around the village (very small) and up to the Hermitage (the famous hotel), which houses the Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre. The centre is quite new and is well worth a visit. There's a small museum with exhibits about the history of the hotel and the mountaineering in the area, and a whole gallery on Edmund Hillary (he did a lot of his training for Everest on Mount Cook). They were showing lots of videos about mountaineering around the museum, including a really interesting biography of Hillary, and they had some random things like the Ferguson Tractor that Hillary drove on his journey to the South Pole, and the first car to drive from Tekapo to Mount Cook. They also have a movie theatre, which shows an absolutely amazing 3D movie about Mount Cook (I actually felt like I was in the screen) and a planetarium show which was really interesting as it was all from the perspective of the Southern Hemisphere. I just spent the evening in the hostel - it's pretty empty as not many people are stupid enough to come to the mountains in winter, but it's really nice and warm and has good facilities. This morning I woke up and the weather had cleared quite a lot so there was quite a bit of blue sky amongst the clouds, so I set off on a walk along the Tasman Valley to the Tasman Glacier. I managed to get a lift some of the way with some Dutch people I met in the hostel and we walked to the Tasman Glacier Lake together. This lake is amazing, it's huge and there are massive icebergs floating in it, which have been calved off the glacier face. The Tasman is the largest glacier in NZ, at 29km long and up to 600m thick in places, and is even more impressive than Fox and Franz. It's covered in debris though, as it's retreating, so it's not the most beautiful sight. As the tourist sign put it, it's a bit like a lunar landscape! The mountains surrounding the valley are incredible, especially as while we were up there, the sky turned really blue. We could see Mount Cook (at 3754m the tallest mountain in Australasia) really well at times (when the cloud decided to lift) and the other mountains around the valley were really clear, so I was happy! I also walked to the Blue Lakes, which are kettle lakes formed by melting ice and have good reflections of the mountains. I returned to the village (walking the whole way this time!) and then set off on the Kea Point walk. This goes up the next valley along from the Tasman and is supposed to give really good views of Mount Cook from the other side, but unfortunately it had clouded over by then and I couldn't see the mountain any more! Still, I can't expect too much, I've seen it once! There were really good views over a lateral moraine and glacial lake though (no icebergs this time, but it was iced over), so the walk was still worth it.

Tomorrow I'm planning a half day walk in the morning and then I'm returning to Tekapo to catch the Magic Bus to Christchurch - only a week and a half to go - I can't believe it!!

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