Land of the long white cloud - Part one

I landed on Thursday afternoon at Dunedin's tiny airport (I love walking across the tarmac) and was picked up by Amanda (and Olivia) and whisked back to their place. She and Tim have a lovely, roomy house with a great view out the kitchen windows.

Yesterday morning we packed the car up and set out for Te Anau and booked into quite a nice little cabin. Then we set off on quite a long walk; it was through the beech-forest and very lovely, but in the end for me just a bit longer than I would have liked. Young Olivia (14 months) was carried on her father's back and, considering the length of time we were out, behaved extraordinarily well.

We were exhausted when we got back and it was early to bed for all. Then this morning we had a frantic pack and clean up before we set out walking along Lake Te Anau - this walk went to a beach where I caught the water-taxi which Amanda had booked for me. Five minutes or so across the lake to Te Auna where I will wait for Tim and her to walk back to the carpark; they'll drive around and collect me before we return to Dunedin. The woman running the cabins has provided lunches for us both days with enough food for an army. So much for walking off the inches ...