Well I have now arrived in somewhere with a bit of civilisation and have finally managed to upload some photos! I am at Lake Tekapo near Mount Cook (NZ highest mountain) which is where I am heading to next.

I did a couple of day trips out of Christchurch since my last update. I got the bus out to Lyttelton - small harbour town - and then climbed up to the ridge with great views down to Lyttelton and also over the Canterbury plains to christchurch and witht he snow capped southern alps on the horizon! Weather was really good, nice and warm but not too hot so good walking weather.

I also went to the Banks Peninsula for a day. I got a bus to the town of Akaroa and then climbed Stoney Peak, 850m so a decent hike starting from sea level. Well worth it for the views out over the Pacific. Had to rush the whole loop up and down so as not to miss my bus so didn't have very long at the top to enjoy the view. That's what happens when you get out of bed late...

Last Thursday I got the bus up to Arthur's Pass. Left at 8am and the journey up was fantastic as we slowly approached the mountains then followed the road weaving through the pass with the railway alongside. Unfortunately once I got there it started raining and didn't stop for 3 days. however I was happy to wait for the rain to stop - a few people who were there gave up and headed on elsewhere. So i basically spent 3 days playing Scrabble and Monopoly. Had to cut back drastically on food too - the shop there was about 3 times as expensive as the supermarkets in Christchurch - should have stocked up!

On Saturday the weather cleared up a bit so 2 guys I met and myself went up Mount Bealey. We got to just above the tree line then decided to stop at that as the visibility was pretty low any higher. On Sunday the weather cleared completely and it had snowed overnight so the views were incredible up and down the valley. I climbed Avalanche Peak (1833m) and was the first person to the top so completely untouched snow, about 5/6 inches! The tree line was at about 1300m and the snow line about 1400m. Had a good little summit to the mountain too, with a bit of a knife edge ridge to crawl along to it so I really felt like I'd climbed a 'proper' mountain. Particularly with the views in all directions to all the other snow covered peaks. took me 2.5 hours up and 2 hours down. After all that exercise I treated myself to an evening of playing monopoly.

On monday I had my first attempt at hitch hiking from Arthurs Pass to Methven (near Mount hutt). I had 4 different lifts altogether. Had to wait a maximum of an hour for one and literally 30 seconds for another! So i got to Methven completely free in about 4 hours. Stayed in Methven for 1 night, but decided to leave as ther's not much to do there unless you are into ski-ing (requires lots of money) or have a car to get to some of the walking areas. I met a couple from Manchester there and they gave me a lift to Lake Tekapo on tuesday which is where I am now. We climbed up Mount John on tues afternoon (only a 350m climb), great views and an observatory on top (supposedly the clearest skies in nz here - no cloud today so will have a look tonight and see what I can see Dad!). the view is typical lord of the rings - big plains with mountain ranges rising up and snow on the tops. Absolutely fantastic!

My plan now is if the weather is good tomorrow to climb Mt Edward 1930m and if not head straight to Mount Cook.