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Good afternoon from chilly Queenstown,
It's the middle of Winter here in the very south of the south island of New Zealand. We're currently in a little place called Queenstown - hugely popular with travellers (imagine the cold equivalent of Ibiza, but with culture, breathtaking views and less vomit).
Since we set foot in the south a few days ago, we've seen the sort of things that people speak so highly of NZ for. I touched upon it in the last blog, but I think that if you're travelling to this country in the southern hemisphere winter time, then North New Zealand may not be your best bet. For all the wonder of the place, I think it may fare better in the summer time.
But the south, this time of year is magnificent. I'm relying a little on your initiative in terms of searching out these places on the internet, but if you do have the urge to do so then check out Abel Tasman national park. This is on the outskirts of Nelson, the northern tip of the island, and incorporates natural rainforest, beaches and mountain ranges. We had a fantastic trek around here on Friday (naturally I picked up some insect bites), before heading south to Fox Glacier the next day.
Fox Glacier does what it says on the tin - but it's some tin. Here we took a helicopter flight to a glacier upon Mount Cook - NZ's biggest mountain - from where we trekked amongst the cavernous terrain of the glacier, at some points completed submerged under icy rock as if part of a Disney film! Fox Glacier town is very small indeed, but we did get the chance to watch the Kiwis v England in a bar here too.
So, we're now here in Queenstown, and have a had a very quiet day after 11 days of relentless 6.30am starts, treks and the like! The great thing is that I've enjoyed the early starts and the places we've been too thus far - I'm in a routine now, feeling healthy and a lot trimmer!
Tonight we are going out to a bar in Queenstown called the Ice bar (I think London has something similar). Basically it's an hour or so in ice - ice cups, ice bars, ice seats etc. They provide coats, which is handy seeing as pretty much everything else I own is in the laundrette. I'm in swimming trunks and a football shirt, in spitting distance of the arctic!
Until next time...
MD
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