the weather was improving the further east we went. There’s something pretty special about driving through ancient glacial valleys surrounded by snow capped mountains which were starting to glisten in the midday sun. As I was driver it was Rob’s responsibility to be camera-man, which I think he enjoyed as I didn’t always get out, so couldn’t give him a list of instructions about how I think he should photograph things!!! His results were awesome and the scenery was fantastic.

We drove onto Hanmer Springs, a spa resort which boasted an outdoor thermal reserve (to give it its proper title!) and cute little village. Hanmer Springs is a reviewed as a great base for summer walks and adventure activities. We didn’t think we’d be doing many adventure activities but definitely thought we’d be doing some walking. The campsite we thought we may stay at was having a school visit the next

day and the campsite man advised us to stay elsewhere - how cool is that? He said ‘oh we have 100+ kids coming tomorrow, you may prefer somewhere else!’ which of course we did! After sorting out our campsite we drove back into the village and had a look around, it was like another tourist village really but was kind of quaint. We also checked out the thermal reserve and thought we’d go to it after we’d done a big walk. By the time we had checked out the village and got back to the campsite it was time for dinner. It was my turn to cook and I made (which I was very proud of!) a cheese and vegetable filo pastry pie, after what seemed like forever due to an incredibly slow oven we eventually got our dinner and it was top! We had also bought a bottle of white wine, as Rob had decided that he should give white wine a second chance. Apparently he had drunk it once in his distant youth and got a really bad headache, I suggested it may have had something to do with the fact that it was rubbish cheap