Backpacking

down a few dress sizes after the walk - down to a 28 or something.

Both these ladies conspired to make the experience more frustrating than it should have been, and ensured we didn't cover as much ground on the glacier as we could have. Still, it was great fun to don our crampons and walk up onto a real life bonafide, blue-iced, huge glacier. Not something you do every day.

On the trek back, it started to piss down, but I was waterproofed up to the max, and didn't really mind one bit. Back at the ranch, I decided to charge on to Wanaka.

On the way, I made a snap decision and picked up my first hitcher. He didn't look as though he would murder me, although his odour did a good job of assaulting my nasal cavity. It turns out he was from Sheffield, which may or may not explain the smell. A sound geezer, he was well and truly tackling New Zealand, hitching, tenting it out in the wilderness alone, and tramping all over the South Island for ten months already. He enjoyed the solitude and apparently it spoiled his day if he encountered even one other person on a walking track. Despite this apparently anti-social attitude, he was a chatty old fellow and I enjoyed his company for the half hour or so we travelled together.

Arriving at Wanaka, I checked into the YHA - oh joy, yet another empty dorm to myself - and chipped out for a walk. Nearing dusk, the sun was shining on the mountains overlooking the lake, and there was not a car to be seen. It was so peaceful. I liked Wanaka.

Even though I settled down to sleep in a private dorm once more, I didn't feel at all lonely, for tomorrow I'd arranged to meet up with a familiar face.

Day 277: 4th November Nice to see Yüh again

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Yan Yüh was coming to the end of her whistlestop tour of the South Island and was on her way back to Christchurch. We worked out that we'd cross paths and be in the same neck of the woods in Lake Tekapo, so it was in this direction I pointed Ron this morning.

I'm getting a little tired of writing (and no doubt you are of reading) that I drove through stunning scenery, so from now on, let's assume that when I drive anywhere in New Zealand, I will be carving my way through stunning scenery. OK?

So I drove Ron through youknowhat to the tiny