Serious hang over today! This blog is partly an attempt to take my mind off it! And to let you lovely people know what I've been getting up to. Hope you are all well and are enjoying another fantastic British Summer. I imagine it is much warmer where you are at the moment.

The weather is a lot better here in the South, very cold but quite bright. Those good winter days where the sun shines but you have to wrap up lots. One of the fist highlights of the South Island was Franz Joseph and the Fox Glacier. We booked a half day walk on Fox, which was the good bit of exercise we all needed. Amazing scenery including a cliff edge walk with only a a small chain to prevent you from plummeting one hundred metres to your death. Poor Matt and his vertigo, I think this really tested him! Once we were on the ice it was even better and we all returned with some fantastic pictures of ice tunnels, pools, caves. Malin our guide was great, some fascinating ice facts!

We drove to Haast, which seemed like a very sleepy place that gets much busier in the Summer. We spent the night cooking and sat by a nice warm fire watching TV for the first time. Later that afternoon we headed to Wanaka. A fantastic place, quite lively and very beautiful. Wanaka lake, the fourth deepest in New Zealand, some three hundred metres in places! We visited a cool little cinema full of retro couches with incredible home made ice cream, cookies etc. The best cinema I have ever been to. I went walking for hours around the lake and in the evenings we sat around open fires in little bars. I liked Wanaka a lot. We are pretty much surrounded by snowy mountains for the first time and everything is based around skiing. We were quite fortunate in our choice of campsite (which included free spa and sauna). We are all hooked on the Olympics too.

Queenstown. We have ended up staying here longer than planned. It is a lovely place. We've managed to avoid extreme sports this time round. Lots of great little shops, cafes and bars. If you ever come here you must go on the Gondola. You finish very high up a mountain with spectacular views. There is also a Luge ride which is fun. It was nice meeting with Jenny, Kate, Ross etc. Last night was ridiculous! Starting at World Bar, which was busy with decent(ish) music. We danced. Around 2am we met Delia and her friends who led us to a much more underground place. That was fun for a while but my bed started calling me. A great time had by all.

Must go now. Feeling very rough. Never drinking again,

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