Activity week....we are becoming quite the outdoors type!

So, our walk in Wanaka....well, we had had it recommended by Papa (Mark Gilbert who i work with....we call him Papa as he is the only male in a team of all women....lucky him!!!!). Anyway....he had recommended we go to Wanaka, and walk to Mount Aspiring Hut....now Papa is a bit of a hiker, come climber, so this wasn't going to be a sunday afternoon strol! But we thought we'd take him up on the recommendation! There were a choice of walks, and instead of heading to the hut, a 6 hour return walk, we decided to walk to the base of Rob Roy Glacier....4 hours return, and a chance to see a glacier. It was amazing....up and down over rocks, glacial rivers, through forest and across fields (with sheep and cows in!). We had packed lunch and taken plenty of water, so we were prepared...we looked strangely professional actually!!!! We reached the foot of the glacier in 2 hours....and it was amazing...you can see from the picture how far we walked through the forest to reach it. And what a great feeling to reach somewhere that not many people do, and to have got there under our own steam, it was a great feeling, and i can understand why Papa loves it so! We spent an hour relaxing at the glacier base, (and i had my sandwhich stolen by a Kea - very crafty giant parrots!!) Then we headed back to the car.....all in all it took us about 5 hours return (with our break)...we were exhausted by the end of the day, but it was oh so worth it!!! We were also quite proud of ourselves as to reach the start of the walk we had to drive through a number of fords.....water across the road....we negotiated these well!!!! The next day we headed on to Fox Glacier, where we hoped to do a helihike....you get helicoptered out to the centre of the glacier and you spend time walking around in the ice caves.....this was another low point though, as this is very weather dependant! Over the course of 3 days we attempted to do this 5 times! In all cases the trip was cancelled due to low cloud and rain...it just wasn't safe to fly! Fate definitely played a hand there!!! But.....to not be beaten....we embarked on the glacier hike instead....where you hike to the base of the glacier, then climb up the foot of it and on to the top! Wow, it was hard work, you would look at where the guide said you were about to climb and it looked vertical....but we did it!!!! We got to wear sexy crampons to grip the ice and walk with a stick, so we looked very professional again!!!!! Not being able to do the helihike was a huge disappointment, and really brought a cloud to last thursday, but by friday when we had done the walk, everything seemed sunny again!!! Then there was Sunday's sea kayaking in Abel Tasman.....the remote north peninsula of the south island......the morning started out much like any other kayak we had done, and we spent two hours with our group and guide gently kayaking up the coastline, seeing gorgeous sandy bays and seal islands up close.....then the wind got up.....and was blowing in the opposite direction to the way we were going!!!! Wow.....was i glad of all those years of samba.....my arms were working so hard.....you couldn't stop otherwise you got blown backwards.....waves were huge, kayak was going up and down...and we were getting quite quite wet!!!! For about 1hr30 we battled against the wind and waves to finally reach the bay we were aiming for.....it was hard, and a huge challenge, but oh so rewarding, and quite an accomplishment....the guide was tempted to turn back, but the whole group wanted to go for it, so we did.....and we made it! Another completely exhausting, but hugely exhilerating day!!!!!! And it doesn't stop there...we are off tomorrow to Tongariro, and hope to hike the Tongariro Crossing on Friday.....8 hours one way across volcanic terrain!!!!! We shall see what happens!!! (as well as scenary we are motivated by the tales of special muds that are bottled there and sold as hugely expensive face creams....."of course i need to take all those empty bottles with me officer!!!") To be continued...... xxxxx