The Cook Islands

Welcome to the Cook Islands and the middle of no-where! In fact the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Here's a confusing tale of time for you all. We flew on Saturday 30th at 2pm from New Zealand and landed in Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands, on Friday 29th at 10.40pm. When we woke the next day, it was Saturday the 30th all over again, which made that particular Saturday, the longest Saturday of my life, literally. When we left New Zealand, we were 13 hours ahead of you guys and now we're 10 hours behind you, so while you were all celebrating midnight and 2007, we were sunbathing by our pool at 2pm New Years Eve! How weird is that? Answers on a postcard, even though I know how and why, I'm still confused :)
Rarotonga is 32k in diameter and takes 2 hours to ride around the whole island on a bike, apparently. The island is surrounded on all sides by a reef which looks amazing and will get some pics up soon. There are about 15 islands that people live on in the group, but probably loads of other smaller ones too, Rarotonga has a population of about 18,000, but you see very few people walking around, one of the other islands I saw in the LP, has a population of 2 :)
Since we got here 2-3 days ago, the most we have done is get our lazy bums out onto the sun loungers by the pool, the only exception was last night, New Years, when we managed to drag ourselves to the beach for some late night drinks. It was a very pleasant affair, me and Samantha, some cheap fizz and the odd hound, Sam has indeed now started making friends with dogs again. It was pretty cool sitting on a beach in the South Pacific, something that dreams are made of really and here we were living that dream, kinda weird :)
Happy New Year to you all and we'll see you in 2 weeks!!!

"Rotorua smells like Manure..."

I hope you all had a splendid Chistmas. We missed you all terribly and even though we were in Rotorua, a city famous for its geothermal regions and it's strong sense of Maori culture, it was still a bit lacking in something essential without the ones we love (you know who you are). But we couldn't mope around for long - we had to inventively bring a bit of magic to a deserted holiday park! My fab prezzies were a tub of my most favourite Ginger Souffle body cream from Origins (how I've missed you) and a book about knitting for thickies (apparently previous projects have been too adventurous). Santa brought Andy a Japanese comic and a couple of DVDs. Our families also donated us lots of money to the ever-dwindling hardship fund. Many thanks to you all !! 5* luxury in Rarotonga here we come!

Christmas morning was spent at Te Puia, one of the largest geothermal parks in the area. Unfortunately, the craters, fumaroles, bubbling mud pools, spewing geysers and volcanic mineral deposits weren't quite enough to impress Andy, who I could tell was already awaiting the Maori concert with trepitation. We wouldn't have normally gone to such a tourist-fest, but it was included in the entrance fee and is a good way to see an example of a kapa haka, or group performance. Andy anxiously said that we had to sit at the back to we weren't picked out to get on stage with any scary warriors. As would follow with these sort of affairs, one of audience had to volunteer to be our representative and greet the warrior who was brandishing a large spear. This tribal Polynesian ritual dictates that the host will challenge the visitor and lay down an offering such as a leaf before him. The visitor whould accept the leaf whilst maintaining eye-contact, to indicate that he somes peacefully. Whakapapa, or genealogy is a very important aspect of the belief system. Maori belief states that we do not just present an individual being, but with all the spirits of our ancestors in tow. Once inside the marae, or meeting house, speeches of welcome are made and then the musical and dancing performances begin.

The Maori, being the indigenous people of Aotearoa (NZ), first arrived in voyaging canoes from Hawaiki, their ancestral homeland some 1,00o years ago. There are legends about almost everything in New Zealand, but the most well-known are those about Maui and the origins of the country. It states that he caught the North Island of Aoteroa from the sea with a giant fishing hook. If you look at a map of the North Island, it resembles a fish, the far North being the tail of the fish and Wellington representing its mouth. The South Island represents Maui's canoe and Stewart Island was his anchor. Traditional Maori arts and crafts are practiced throughout the country, most notable fantastic wood, greenstone or bone carvings, in typical designs such as the fish hook (in keeping with the legend) and the Hei Tiki, a fertility symbol. Weaving and moko (tatooing) are also still widely practiced, which in my book is cool ("keeping wool alive"). While it is customary for men have their whole face and body covered with amazing designs (including their bottoms), female moko is more usually seen to cover only their mouth and chin area. Quite possibly the coolest tatts around.

Just because a bloke with a funny beard and rainbow sandals was picked to represent us, this added fuel to Andy's fire. He then had to greet each member of the other tribe by doing a hongi (ie. pressing noses twice). This is the traditional greeting which means sharing of life breath. I suppose that could have a down side too. Thus followed half an hour of traditional song and dance which involved a fair amount of Poi. This time it's cool though, because we're not on a Thai beach and they could do it properly. Fully relieved for the ordeal to be over, Andy marched us off to commence dinner preparations.

Despite our fear, the caravan park was totally devoid of other people on Christmas day. We sat there in the desolate campers kitchen with enough food for a Hangi, feeling guity about the lonesome man who sat with a bread roll and a banana while we merrily made our way through a bottle of cava, a fancy bottle of red and several Tuis. The dinner was monstrous hybrid of flavours including, but not exclusively, olive and sundried tomato stuffing, spicy red cabbage and lamb shanks. So it was us and the bread-roll man who actually turned out to be a jolly nice and decent Aussie.

After we'd made a right show of ourselves, we rolled into the hot tub where we sweated off the booze. An unforgiving and sobering moment occurred when my camera's self-timer went off twice. The photo immediately following this poised scene, was one of my stomach and thighs climbing out of the tub towards the camera. Now that's something that no girl post-Christmas lunch should ever see. A couple of DVDs later, it was time for the second best thing about Christmas dinner - Christmas dinner leftovers. Thus ensued a fitful nights sleep littered with nightmares. I dreamt I was so fat I looked like Anne Diamond and had taken to wearing an enormous jumper. That's what happens when you go to bed stuffed.

Boxing day was attempt to get my fiance to appreciate all this natural power and raw beauty. 20km south of Rotorua, is Waiotapu. Having been here before, I knew how amazing the colours were and how totally otherworldly the place felt - like being on the moon. So here we were, on a baking hot Boxing day, wandering through clouds of hot sulphurous steam, trying our best to stick to the narrow pathway with our hangovers fully intact to prevent being boiled to death in the 90 degree water, and he still wasn't having the time of his life. The amazing colours you see here are formed due to the different mineral elements such as suphur, iron oxide, carbon and manganese. Mr. Mounter would state that all these elements are "the most abundant in the earth's crust," well they certaily are here. The water is so hot in places (upto 300 degrees C in parts!!) that the minerals are leached from the rocks, transported through to the surface as steam where they are absorbed into the ground. The whole place totally stinks of rotten eggs, due to hydrogen sulphide spewing about all over the place. Wai-O-Tapu, meaning 'sacred waters,' covers 18 sq km of surface land, and dates back 160,000 years. The park sits on the edge of the largest volcanic caldera of the Taupo region and the stream water is heated by residual magma from previous eruptions.

Traditionally, the waters were used for cooking and the mud for bathing. It's therapeutic properties were recognised many moons ago and can help alleviate aches and pains associated with arthritis and rheumatism. Indeed, rickety souls around in the early 1900's could test this hypothesis at the The Rotorua Bath House, a hospital / spa, eager to cash in on this economy. But it all went quickly wrong when, after a few years and great investment, the sulphurous elements began to destrol the metal pipes and very quickly it became a dank and mouldy place falling to pieces (ooh, sounds familiar, RSCH). It now stands as a museum and has lots of interesting and bizarre exhibits and the treatments on offer. The mud is still used in Rotorua's hospital today for similar conditions. Not being upto more heat and eggy vapour, we laid down in a park by the lake and fell asleep for the afternoon. Well, I didn't as I'm currently heavily involved with the wool project of the week - another scarf (very safe).

We did pop to Christchurch for a couple of days before all this volcanic malarky, but I wasn't really in the mood for taking photos in light of recent news from home. This city, which has a palpable British air with it's cathedral and punting down the river Avon seemed quite pleasnat, apart from the disasterously wet weather. In fact, all we managed to do was to see my old friend Helen. Actually, she's not that old, but she is indeed very lovely. We met at Uni before she had the good sense to escape our ridiculous course. She now lives in this fab country with her bloke Bruce and they picked us up in the POURING rain, for a comforting evening of roast dinner, champagne and stories of the good old days. Much fun was had dissecting our course-mates personalities (that bit was mainly me, I have to say) and Andy says I did a lot of talking in general. Even for me. Well, it's been about 10 years, so there was a lot to say. They have a beautiful house by the beach, but we couldn't see this due to the driving rain. It was like staying in a posh boutique hotel, where the towels are all rolled up neatly. We even had a goody bag containing mince pies and sweeties! Truly, it was great to see Hennals with her new hair!!

A frightening ferry journey across the Cook's Strait, saw swells of 4 metres. Luckily, the day before it had been over 8 metres and the whole affair took about 8 hours of sheltering in the Marlborough sound rather than the intesded 2 hours. People were vomiting, children were green, but we were OK though we had to sit separately as the ferry was packed. All we do now, is wait for our flight to The Cook Islands - our final destination. Where has the time gone?!?!?!

Festive read of the week : Schapelle Corby : My Life ( The story of the Australian caught with narcotics and now serving 20 years in an Indonesian slammer - the only crime she is guilty of is having the greatest chav name in history).



Festive Campaign : Justice for Schapelle!




Festive Film of the Week : Kiki's Delivery service - a Japanese animation about a trainee witch and one of the many spur-of-the-moment Christmas presents to Andy.

The Routeburn Track

Before Christmas came and went, we had one last adventure in the South island.
We love walking so much that we decided to walk some more, in fact another 36k along the Routeburn Track. We' ve now walked about 100k around New Zealand, which for Sam, is more than she has driven in our campervans over the last three and a half months :)
The walk that everyone wants to do in NZ is the Milford track, in fact its so popular that its booked up in advance for months and so we couldn't go on it. Our second choice was the Routeburn track, a walk that takes you through forests and alpine mountain ranges and in many peoples opinion is actually the more scenic of the two tracks, as for much of the Milford, you are walking in a valley, not up in the mountains themselves. Having learnt our lessons from the Abel Tasman walk, we got ourselves kitted out with brand new rucksacks, took along some decent grub and I made sure I had a good book with me and Sam, as her OCD dictates, took her knitting.
The Routeburn track starts about forty minutes bus journey from Glenorchy, which is itself about an hour from Queenstown. Arriving at two in the afternoon we set off into a forest and gradually headed uphill, along the way spotting three mice and a small parakeet, not all at once you understand. We emerged from the wood into the valley you see above, surrounded by high mountains and had a snack before continuing our climb. Rounding a corner in the forest we came upon a man holding some shears. This was either a Psycho about to murder us or a Ranger clearing shrubbery from the path. Luckily it was the latter and he accompanied us on the remaining short journey to our first hut, the Routeburn Falls hut. Along the way he picked some leaves from a bush and said a lot of travellers ate them, saying they tasted a bit like chocolate. I nibbled the corner of one, but thought it tasted weird, so spat it out, Sam said to him she thought they might be poisonous which of course he denied, but we were then convinced he was actually a Psycho Ranger, the third option that we had forgotten. The Falls hut had a great view of a valley and the mountains and a waterfall just behind it. We ate a Tuna salad with dressing that we'd pre-made, much nicer than space food. We crashed out in the bunk room which was basically, rows of bunk beds and this time there was no hanky-panky to endure, it was very cold though and we didn't get much sleep. The next day found us climbing once again up through a valley and onwards through the mountains. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the scenery got better and better as the day wore on. Lunchtime brought us to a day shelter next to the beautiful Lake Harris, which as you can see had an amazing green colour around the edges. After another quality salad for lunch we decided to climb Conical Hill. We'd been told that morning that the hill walk was closed due to two sections of snow, one of which if you slipped could lead to a rather nasty fall. However lots of people were still doing this section of the walk and the views at the top of the hill were meant to be spectacular so we decided to go as high as we could without taking too many risks. The first section of snow we came to was very steep and we carefully made our way up it digging our feet in deeply as we went, fashioning our own stairs out of the snow. It must have been about a hundred or so meters long, but straight uphill. After clambering up some rocks after that we came to the second section of snow. This was the dodgy bit and you could see that if you slipped and couldn't stop yourself, you would plummet down the side of the mountain to your possible doom. Sam decided on staying where she was, but I had to continue, so close to the top I had to see the views. Taking it very slowly and carefully, really digging my feet in, following previous walkers footsteps I inched my way up to the top. In fact it was fairly easy in the end and when I got to the top I was rewarded with 360 degree incredible views of the surrounding mountains. You could even see right down to the Tasman sea. I knew Sam had to see it, so I went back down to get her, but she had already decided to come up and so I met her halfway. It's definitely one of the best landscape views I've experienced in my life, up there with Yosemite (USA), Sapa (Vietnam), Western Oz (the whole of) and the views of Mount Cook and Tasman here in NZ. Getting back down the mountain was a bit trickier. The first and more scary section proved the easier, the second section involved Sam going at a snails pace and me slipping and sliding on my bum and then coming back up again to help Sam and then Sam telling me off for not helping her :)
We spent the afternoon walking along a track that ran along the side of the mountains looking down on a valley on our way to the second hut of the journey. The second hut was situated at the bottom of another valley by a lake called Lake Mackenzie. It was another picture perfect location to spend the night at. The lake was gorgeous and at time almost mirror like. Some nutty types were having a quick swim when we got there, the water must have been about 10 degrees! Another hut, another mad ranger, who gave us all a fire briefing in the style of someone who has always wanted to be a stand up comedian, but who instead is someone who spends far to much time in the woods...alone. For those of you interested in camp cooking ( I don't mean gay cooking Alex) we had instant mash with Mexican beans and salami, again miles nicer that space food. Apart from bringing better food, we also brought condiments in small snap lock baggies. Salt, Pepper, Chilli flakes and grated cheese were some of the little 'luxuries' that made everything taste much better.
The last day of our walk saw us strolling a mere three hours through a wood. It had turned into a bit of a crappy day and we were pleased to finally get to the third and last hut. We camped out in the hut, virtually the only people there, me reading and Sam knitting. Our peace and tranquility was spoilt somewhat by an exceedingly annoying Scottish mother, who began ordering people around as soon as she entered and ended up filling the hut with smoke, setting off the fire alarm, as she ordered some hapless bloke to light a fire with wet wood. Nice one. Finishing the walk the next day we were collected by a bus for a visit to see Milford Sound before being taken back to Queenstown later that day. Milford Sound is the most famous tourist destination in NZ. It's where the boat journey in the first Lord of the Rings film was filmed and is the first of about thirteen fjords that stretch down this bit of the west coast, surprisingly its called Fjordland. Unfortunately the weather was shockingly awful, rain, mist and low lying clouds meant that the dramatic features of the Sound could hardly be seen and so the best photo I took was this one of Sam :) Getting back to Queenstown was great, it's the nicest town we've been in NZ, so beautiful, but after another day there we had to get going to Christchurch over on the east coast. On the way there we drove past Mount Cook again and this time saw it spectacularly mirrored in another lake. I've never seen anything quite like it. Stunning!




Currently Watching: Grey's Anatomy







Listening to: Cinerama - Va Va Voom

Happy Christmas!!!!

A massive amount of general waving and screaming from us to you all as we say:










Happy Christmas!!!!!

We've just arrived in Rotorua, possibly one of the world's smelliest city's. It's not me this time, it's the sulphurous pools and springs that abound in this area. We've checked in to the always great 'Top 10' camping ground and just been to the supermarket to get our Xmas lunch, Lamb shanks, mmmmmm! The fridge is full of fizzy white wine, Tui beer and a bit of space left for some snags for a barbi. The weather has picked up and we're back on the North island again hoping for a sunny Christmas, the first time I've ever hoped for that! We're gonna go see the volcanic action Xmas morning and then its dinner, followed by a dvd and a mince pie (cheers Helen). It's all looking good, even the Toon won yesterday. If you want a festive laugh then check out Cut-thumb's Xmas blog, it does contain some cursing though :)
For those of you worrying about our upcoming date with the military coup in Fiji, worry no more, cause we've changed our flights and we're off to the Cook Islands instead.

Hope you all have a great day wherever you are, we'll be thinking of you (some of you) in our own special way. Here with her own Xmas message is the cutest girl of them all......my niece Ruby!

The Best Grandad...

In Memory of Tom Croom Senior




1920- 2006

You will be forever missed
Thank-you so much for all of it...
XXX

Queenstown

My word, it's great to be back in Queenstown! This and the surrounding regions of Fijordland and Otago were my favourite destinations of last trip, and I was relieved to determine not much has changed in 4 years. Well, if you brush over the fact that the population has now doubled to 7,000 lucky inhabitants and there is now a Louis Vuitton shop for all those chavvy ski-types. Winter-time (that's July/August ) attracts hords of snow-seekers for boarding and skiing whereas in the summer time (about now) it's just as busy with crazy kids looking to jump out of planes and off platforms attached to a bungy. The original AJ Hackett bungy jump is a short distance outside of Queenstown and is basically a platform extended from the Kawarau bridge. You tentatively hop to the edge of the platform with an elastic bungy strapped round both ankles as you pluck up the courage to jump over the edge as the Shotover River cascades below. Last time I was here, my mate Paul was brave enough to have a bash, but opted out of the one where they give you a slightly longer bungy, meaning you get dunked in the water aswell. Sensible bloke.

Not fancying any slipped discs or retinal detatchments, we opted out, but it's very entertaining watching other people go through the experience. One bloke was giving them loads of grief, and generally not taking the safety advice being offered about ensuring his arms broke the impact of the water, rather than his face, so they dunked him right in upto the waist - twice. He was so angry, but the blokes and all his mates were all loving it. The alternative, much more terrifying option, is to jump the canyon option. this doesn't provide you with the psychological reassurrance of jumping over water. Oh no, this one is straight over rock. Oh, and it's 134 metres high, compared to 43 metres, resulting in over 8 seconds of freefall!!!

The best and most accessible view of Queenstown is gained by hopping on the gondola (that's a cable car to the rest of us), swinging about over the pine trees and jumping off at the top. Then you get a nice crash helmet and you sit on the ski lift, giving you plenty of time to waffle a load of nonsense to detract from Andy's acrophobia (film).
















The view (film) over the Remarkables mountain range and Lake Wakatipu is utterly stunning. Paragliding seems to have taken off in a big way which is a new development, but much more affordable passtime is the Luge. This is where you get to wear a crash helmet and play Super Mario Carts down a winding track in a go-cart, either absorbing the wonderous view or just trying to get down in one piece. Of course once is never enough and we had four goes each, using the advanced track each time as the scenic one was closed. You can really wang it down and I seemed to reach the bottom first every time. Andy's excuse was that he was taking photos but I think he could have been a teensy bit scared.

A fun-filled first day was topped off withe the delights of a pizza at Winnies (it used to be called Winnebagoes), which is a Queenstown institution and watching the new Bond film. I must say, I'm struggling to understand everbody's obsession with Daniel Craig. I think he looks more like a Gingerbreadman with muscles and a pout (always pouting). Just as I struggled to fancy Colin Farrel who, quite frankly, looks like Kevin Webster with attitude. It will always be Johnny Depp for me (after Andy, of course). I digress. Beer of the moment is Tui, a sort of beer/lager hybrid which is very tasty in a Christmas-cake kind of way.

To top it all off, we're staying in the best campsite ever. It's one of the Top 10 chain which Jess & Joe stayed in for most of their time in NZ and it's very cool indeed. It's got a lovely bungalow with a massive kitchen, bathrooms and a sitting room which you can use and pretend that you have a house of your own rather than a rented camper.

Glenorchy is a tiny village near Queenstown which is extremely pretty but with nothing much to do (apart from Funyak down the Dart river, but look what happened last time). In fact, it has all the beauty of Queenstown and shares the majesty of The Remarkables, but with none of the crowds. I did meet this rather lovely sheep. I talked to him about my new love of knitting and was about to get my needles to that overgrown coat, when he turned around to show me his bottom and it became apparent why nobody wanted his three-bags-full.
Baaa!!!! Suze and I are on a joint crusade to keep the WI arts alive in the 21st century. While she does the preserves and the cakes, I do more cakes and knit like it's going outta fashion (oh, apparently it did).
















Many more days were spent in Queenstown, chilling out and preparing for our next adventure. In the meantime though, we needed something to get the adrenalin pumping. The Shotover Jet (film) is a bit of a must-do when you're here. With the help of a powerful engine and a mental driver, you are zipped through the Shotover Canyon at great speed, turning at the last possible moment to avoid the canyon walls. Dressed attractivley in a lifejacket and waterproof Harry Potter cape, we prepared to be terrified. It was pretty good, but not actually that frightening... until the back of the boat (where we were perched) made a terrible noise and I turned just in time to see a piece of boat fly off into the water. Luckily it didnt hit anyone and didn't seem to be an integral part as we kept on going. Several 360 degree spins were demonstrated and we all got a bit wet. NZ$200 for 25 minutes of moderate anxiety - money just flies through your hands in this country.

Some of the things I have most treasured about travelling are the lessons you learn along the way. Sometimes, complete strangers can instill you with a nugget of wisdon which will serve you for life. Take this unassuming girl for example. Not one word passed between us, but the lesson was loud and clear: Just because you can get it on, it doesn't mean it fits you. I mean, didn't she feel a breeze? What not to wear in NZ - now I'm sure I could knit her a decent pair of pants...






Film of the century : The World's Fastest Indian

Totally magnificent. You will cry the whole way through and want to marry Burt Munro... 10/10 - Mazza was right.




Currently Listening to : Lali puna - Tridecoder




Project of the week: Keeping wool alive.

Lily May

Here she is!!! I'd like to introduce Lily May Croom to the blog! Born around the 19th of November (hard to tell with the 3 day labour and the time difference), my neice is a little flower and we can't wait to meet her! Lou did a fanastic job and looks amazing considering the constant feeding demands. Lily gets pretty hungry too, which means they haven't slept for about a month. I can't quite blieve that my little brother is a Dad, but that shirt is helping my brain with the transition. So, Auntie Sam has begun the knitting project in ernest. The preliminary Pootle-hat I made very badly for Andy has honed the necessary skills for tiny clothes.

Knitting is my new obsession and there are currently three projects on the go. It's a good place to learn with all this gorgeous wool around and there are an abundance of old ladies in wool shops just desperate to give a handy tip or two. Coming soon to the Croom household is a small pink hat. If the pom-poms fall off (again), I will blame the Kiwi sheep. Soon to follow is a jumper which should fit her when she's 14 and a scarf for some lucky reader, depending upon the quality of the end garment. The knitting patterns you can buy are very exciting, ranging from greengrocers with carts full of vegetables to dinosaurs. Guess what everyone will be getting every year from now on?

Another newcomer to the blog is my Nan. Margaret McGregor is an avid reader so it's about time she had a mention and a photo. Hi Nan - can't wait to see you again soon. Time you were putting up your Christmas decorations isn't it?! Those three bits of tinsel and the frosty bells come out every year and always look top-notch. It's been a good year for increasing the population of Britain. Another baby I can't wait to meet is Gene Alexander Best! A very wecome addition to the Paula / Matt & Gaby household. Born in September after an anxious few months, Gene is another reason why coming home in a month won't be such a terrible thing. Now where are those knitting needles?

Fox Glacier

Before we got engaged there was a visit to a glacier which if you're sitting comfortably, I will recount to you now. After our little stroll through the Abel Tasman park we headed south following the West coast from Westport, through Greymouth and finally down to Glacier country. Some of the coastal drive was extremely beautiful, putting Australia's 'Great Ocean Drive' to shame. Along the way we stopped at a little place called Punakaiki to look at the local geological attraction (we were thinking of you Gino) Pancake Rocks. Basically some cliffs that have a multitude of layers looking a bit like pancakes, Sam thought they were great, I thought they were a touch dull and as I'm writing this particular blog, have relegated them to a mere mention.
The weather has continued to be generally sunny which meant when we arrived to see the glacier's we could actually see them and the mountains that surround them. Hoorah! These mountainous landscapes are the thing I came to see and they don't disappoint. Never having really seen snow capped 'proper' mountains either, the sight of them was particularly impressive. If you look really closely you can just see Frodo and crew walking across the snowy peaks.
In this part of New Zealand you get not one, but two ginormous glaciers to have a look at, Franz-Joseph Glacier and Fox Glacier. For no particular reason we decided to do our walk on Fox Glacier, although F-J looked very nice and so booked on to do the Nimble Fox All-Day Glacier Trek (as recommended by Bison) with Fox Guides. Being these days the nimble fox's we are it was the obvious choice. We arrived at the glacier after a short drive and got started on the walk up a steepish track that took us up and alongside the glacier. We were in a group of about 12 people (mainly dull, some groups are) with our guide, Jeremy. An hours walk took us to the edge of the glacier where we strapped on crampons to the huge boots we'd been given and immediately felt like proper mountaineering types. There was a staircase cut into the side of the glacier which they have to re-cut every day, otherwise within 2-3 days the whole thing melts. We climbed up the stairs and followed our guide around up on top of the glacier. It's a really interesting experience walking around on the ice, the views are superb and you feel like you could be in the middle of the Antarctic somewhere, in fact the previous night we'd watched 'March of the Penguins' and kept expecting them to pop up. Jeremy the guide led the way, cutting stairs into the ice as he went with his pick axe and he cut a lot of stairs that day, his arm muscles were huge, a bit like mine Alex :)
I'd love to tell you all the fascinating details about how glaciers work and move, but I can't be bothered, so you'll have to read about it here if you're interested. Sufficed to say that they move forward and backward up and down the valley over time and Fox has been moving forward since 1985. As you drive towards the glacier you see a sign which indicates where the glacier had been in 1750, a few K forward of its current position. After some time walking about on the glacier, discovering crevaces and the like we were shown an ice cave that had recently been found, in another few days it would vanish in on itself again with the ever moving flow of ice. We all stomped up and took our turns getting our photos done within the cave. I had had ideas of proposing within an ice cave, but was thwarted by the throng of people, the size of the cave and Sam chuntering on about how she was getting dripped on in the cave :)
The cave was pretty cool inspite of its small size and rainy state, the variety of blues in the ice was amazing. The colours generally and the sheer size of the glacier were spectacular. At the top of the glacier in the mountains is a bowl of snow 36k in diameter that continually feeds the glacier keeping it going as it melts and spews out water at the other end. You can go on helicopter flights to see the top of the glacier as well as Mount Cook and Mount Tasman which would be amazing, but a tad expensive for our budgets.
We took a picnic lunch with us which we ate sitting on some rocks in the middle of the glacier and made everyone jealous as we drank hot soup from our thermos. After more tramping about on the ice, we headed down and then off the glacier and back down to the small village where we were staying. We decided to treat ourselves to a night at the pub and a nice juicy steak, mmmmm. We'd been eyeing other peoples steaks up whilst enjoying a pint after the walk and worked ourselves into a steaky lather, shouting 'Steak, Steak, Steak'. However, when you want a steak desperately it often turns out to be poor and ours didn't disappoint, first turning up without the prawns we'd ordered, then coming back cold and then coming back cold again after we'd requested it being heated up. Gutted. Still we had a lovely steak the next night to celebrate our engagement.
Having seen Mount Cook in the background for a couple of days we decided to pay it a closer visit on our way down to Queenstown. A 400k round trip in fact took us to Mount Cook National Park. The journey was really nice with thousands of wild flowers along the road side and mountains popping up all over the place. As soon as we arrived at the park thought, it started raining, wouldn't you know it. We camped out in our van for the night, it got so cold, we ended up sleeping fully clothed the whole night. When morning came though, the sun was peaking out and we set off on a short 3 hour return walk to see Mount Cook. The walk took us through a valley with snow capped mountains on all sides, across 2 swing bridges and towards the Hooker Lake. On rounding the corner to get our close up view of the mountain we discovered that the clouds were still there and could only see the bottom half. We had to settle for that, but it was ok as we'd seen it from the other side. When we got back to our van we found a couple of ducks and their very cute baby ducks and spent some time feeding them out of our hands, I'm growing increasingly fond of ducks, I'm not sure what this means.

Slideshow



Listening to: Old Hardcore circa '92 (Still the greatest music ever!)






Currently Reading : Sara Douglass - The Nameless Day








Film of the Week: Casino Royale - the greatest Bond film ever?

The one you were waiting for...

So there we were, sat in a buttercup-filled meadow overlooking the most perfect view I think I've ever seen - Mt. Cook & Mt. Tasman with the Fox Glacier in the background, a field full of uninterested bulls in the middle-ground and a sausage sarnie in the foreground. It was quite possibly the most spectacular snag/bap combo ever experienced and Andy was about to make the moment even more memorable. After spending a couple of hours early that morning gawping at the splendid view over Lake Matheson, with the magnificent mountains reflected in the water, we escaped the crowds of people hilariously running around the lake trying the capture the scene before the clouds obscured their photo opportunity of the peaks. Heading towards the Mt. Cook lookout, we stumbled upon a totally amazing spot completely devoid of human lifeforms. It was totally still and peaceful with only a stoat and several grazing beasts for company. Before I could pick up my knitting needles and ball of wool (the new OCD project of the week), Andy seemed to be asking me to marry him! At first I thought he was taking the p***, then I was very happy and then I started crying and then the panic hit me. All these emotions came and went very quickly and within about 6 seconds I seemed to be agreeing to his ludicrous plan.

Not quite prepared for the moment, Andy then legged it back to the van for the jade ring which he tells me is a temporary feature until he has saved up his pennies for a pink diamond like Jordon's (I think that's what he meant anyway). So this is the moment you've all been anticipating for the past 10 months. Was it worth the wait?!? Not only had I given up all hope, but the setting was out of this world. I think Gandalf was lurking somewhere casting good-weather spells. I didn't want to leave, but I was really quite keen to get on with the knitting project - a new hat for my future husband. A rainy drive to Lake Wanaka and then the clouds lifted once more. A bottle of champagne later and we were 'phoning my Dad to ask his permission. Some confusion ensued and a half-asleep Dad responded with some Northern-ness which Andy didn't quite get, but I think he agreed!

The original plan had been to ask me in an ice-cave the day before during an expedition on the Fox Glacier. All had not gone according to plan though as the ice-cave was very small (blog to follow soon) and as it was a sunny day, the ice was melting quite quickly. Andy was trying to shove me into the cave but it was dripping at quite a rate and I was getting soaked. If I'm honest, I was getting in quite a mood by the whole process and this could possibly have put the proposal on hold for a bit. The romance was further removed from the equation by the queue of people outside the cave waiting to come in.

So, on the 7th December, I had a tip-top excuse to flex the Egg card. We found a bar in Wanaka (not a typo) overlooking the mountains and the lake. Champagne and fine wine was the order of the moment. Then it was mussles, steak, tiger prawns and smoked salmon to ease the alarm of the situation. It's all good. Andy has said I can spend 10 English pounds on flowers for the big day and he's going to get his suit from TK Maxx... I am one lucky lady!! No seriously, we are very happy and have agreed on virtually everything since the event... So, here's to the future Mr & Mrs Us! Chin chin!!!!!

Currently Drinking : Quarz Reef Champagne from Otago region, NZ.

Film of the Week : A Very Long Engagement.