New Zealand.

well I made it to New Zealand, after another night in another airport, i love thermarests.
i made it to Christchurch late evening on the 22nd, where i spent two nights and a rainy day wandering around before i got a cheap rental van, $5 per day plus $15 booking fee and spent two days traveling south, i was fortunate enough to meet a Korean lad who was happy to share the fuel bill ($130) and we set off to Queenstown via some stunning scenery which had us stopping frequently to take photos, (will upload when i find a machine which recognizes my hdd),

This appears as the home of extreme sports, although they are fairly extreme on the pocket as well. A 45m bungee jump costs about $160, that's probably over $50 per second, a bit too much for my wallet although i may be persuaded to go skiing if i can find any reasonable prices. I'm not holding my breath.

Well Wanaka was on the way so we headed past there for a few more vistas of snowy peaks and rolling hills and lakes. Its all starting to remind me of a cross between the lakes Scotland and Norway, shame that the prices are no better. however in land of over 40 million sheep and just 4 million people I cant complain too much, the vistas are great the towns are not that intrusive and I have found proper beer, but can't afford to drink it.
Hobgoblin and Black sheep are $8 a bottle. ouch. and other beer is about $6 a pint.

I spent today, my forth day in New Zealand, wandering up a Via Ferrata that leads to the top of queens town hill, it took just over 1hr and I recall seeing a sign that said something about private land and that i wasn't aloud beyond a certain point to access the Via Ferrata.

They obviously didn't realise that an 8ft high fence and a bit of barbed wire wasn't going to stop most folks and as this was 15 minutes up the path so i wasn't prepared to head back down. besides i figured if anyone asked i would pretend i was German and didn't speak english.

Well no one asked and I enjoy a fine view from the 900m summit, across the town below and the lake beyond to a horizon on snowy peaks.
A pleasant stroll led back down to town through the Douglas fir, the familiar smell of pine and resin reminded me of adventures past, the alps, dolomite's, Scotland, Norway, and in many ways this land seems so similar, i would like to just set off into those hills and keep walking, climbing and absorbing the wonders of the hills once again.

Tomorrow i plan to head up the Ben Lomond track, although some of it is supposed to be closed and from my view early today i could see plenty of snow above 1000m so i probably won't take the summit track as i unfortunately i have no winter gear and I'm not about to start spending money for it here.

Will upload the photos later and with luck will get a few good shots tomorrow.