since we last wrote we have stayeda night in Queenstown - a very busy bustling (young persons) town which is right on Lake Wakatipa. Yesterday we had an early breakfast in Arrowtown, an old mining town which is very quaint & has some lovely Victorian buildings. We passed through Wanaka - lovely lake & over the mountains to Fox Glacier where we are staying for a few days, catching our breath & chilling out - literally - on (or should we say beneath) the glacier. Hiked up Franz Joseph this morning & were completely bowled over. The scale of everything defies belief. We then walked to the base of Fox glacier, saw a very noisy rock fall & snow/ice shearing off the face of the glacier. To use a Kiwi expression -"Awesome'! Tomorrow we're off to Hokitika, a coastal resort on the Tasman Sea. Hoping to see the famous Pancake rocks on the way. We're now almost halfway through our trip - the time is flying by & we're having a wonderful time!