leepy!

We woke up and decided to leave breakfast until the students had finished before we ventured into the kitchen. The coleslaw man was still in the kitchen by the time we braved it and ended up giving Rob loads of free food - which is always a bonus! Rob was in his element as we got loads of free cheese so we filled up our fridge and were ready to head off around 11 a.m.

We had quite a big drive ahead of us as we heading south towards Christchurch then heading west to go over Arthur’s Pass, the most dramatic of the 3 South Island passes. Again the scenery was pretty special, vast glacier valleys with huge mountains rising from the valley floor and snow capped peaks glowing in the distance. We were in New Zealand’s prime snowboarding and skiing country which meant that all of the ski runs would be open as hiking trials, so we guessed

we’d be doing yet more great hiking. We took our time driving through this visual wonderland, we passed beautiful emerald green lakes that shimmered intensely under the light of the sun, imposing looking mountains and flat plains, it was just fantastic driving and we were both in very high spirits. What’s more was that we were only at the start of Arthur’s Pass and supposedly the best was still to come! We continued onto Craigieburn Forest Park which was actually the official start of Arthur’s Pass, we didn’t care which part was the official start it was all incredibly beautiful and rugged countryside and the South Island was just getting better and better. How lucky New Zealanders are to be blessed with such a beautiful country to live in.

We arrived at Craigieburn Picnic Area which lies on the eastern ranges of the Southern Alps and found there to be a free campsite within the