On March 3rd, I peaked out my "curtains" (a valence bought at a second-hand store which I stuff into the plastic molding near the roof of my car) and was ever-so-pleased to see blue sky as promised by the weather forecast. I wandered down to the beach while eating breakfast and found lots of rock art; people had spelled out their names and various ( Read more... )

The hostel I stayed at in Fox Glacier also happened to be the information centre (and the general store... just kidding), and I explained to the helpful lady that I was unsure whether I should book my glacier walk for the next day, which still had a good chance of rain, or wait for the day after, which was assured to be sunny (called "fine" down ( Read more... )

On February 17th, I woke up in my mountain paradise, though heavy cloud shrouded the top half of most of the mountains. I later learnt that the valley -- and Mount Cook especially -- is often obscured by cloud, so I was understandably pleased when I headed out on a nearby trail and it was blue skies and sunshine within the hour. My chosen ( Read more... )