snow joke

what a difference a few miles and mountains makes eh? the weather has changed completely and we have gone from wearing our sun tan lotion a couple of days ago to buying beanie hats and walking around with our jackets and boots on in the snow. its really cool although my feet are not liking the change in temperature and are as we speak trying to defrost against our heater in the camper van (it comes with all mod cons this up market mini bus does). its not just the temperature that has altered though the scenery has changed too from lush green forests and roaming meadows to massive mountains with snowy tops and lakes.

after very nearly floating away down a river because of torrential rain during monday night, we set forth to view some glaciers on tuesday morning and man they didnt disappoint, it was so cool. i was never really into geology at school and so my knowledge of how they form etc is pretty rubbish but it was awe inspiring to be seeing one for the first time and to learn about its movements. we tried to walk up to it and do some ice cave walking but unfortunately because of the rain we couldnt get near it as the face was unstable so we had to make do with seeing it from a distance.

we then moved about 30km south to fox glacier, we just managed to get a glimpse of it before the weather closed in and the rain started again. the mist descended so quickly and its such a shame because on a clear day you can see right across the southern alps from there, however it was not to be and we bought a postcard with a view on it to console ourselves. rather than hanging about and hoping it would clear we pressed on towards queenstown and had an amazing drive through the haast pass (through the alps and national forests) again because of the mist we couldnt see much but it was so atmospheric and because of the rain the rivers and waterfalls were in full speight.

we stayed the night at a brilliant wee campsite next to a lake - we obviously had gone to higher ground during the drive the previous day as it was absolutely freezing the next morning and we woke up to snow on the mountain tops (good thing about the cold is no midges - i am still scratching from the last attack). we packed up the van and headed to wanaka for breakfast and some excellent coffee and did a bit of sightseeing beside another lake which was surrounded by more mountains.

we made it to queenstown this afternoon and headed up on the gondola's to bob's peake which is the best view in town - it didnt disappoint - what an amazing view across the valleys and mountains and then to top it all off it started snowing - que a trip to the shop to buy some winter woollies. on the way down we noticed the place where ricky will be doing his bungee jump and i think it spooked him a bit - he is already saying he thinks its too cold to do it haha we will see whether he actually does it or not. maybe he just needs a helping hand or push - i will be happy to assist in whatever way i can :)

tomorrow we are heading to milford sounds and taking a bus trip to give ricky a bit of a breather from the old road - i am so excited about it, it looks light a pretty amazing place even if it going to be 4 hours there and then 4 hours back. on friday hopefully ricky will do the bungee jump and i will try some jet boating down the shotover river - conditions will dictate i am sure. we then hope to get to dunedin in the evening to see fiona, mark and sophia which will be fab.

i was trying to upload some photies but the internet is a tad slow so will try again tomorrow night, i am off to do my best julie andrews impression in this alpine environment - all together now - high on a hill was a lonely goat herd ........