Bowlestering the ranks

Last night I was finally joined on my travelling adventure by Emma and Matt. I'd been waiting for this moment ever since I set out on 16th October and it's really great to have them here. We're all really looking forward to exploring New Zealand together. At the moment we're sorting things out in Christchurch and getting reunited, and we'll be heading down to Mount Cook tomorrow to do a walk up to the famous Mueller Hut, from where you get great views of the spectacular mountain. Then we'll work our way round the South Island for three or four weeks before getting up north.

Those of you who know her will be interested to know I just completely randomly bumped in to Emily Enright! I knew she was on a round the world trip, but had no idea she was in Australasia, let alone Christchurch! It's great to bump into people when you're not expecting it.

Last week I spent several days mountain biking near Nelson, in the north of the South Island. I stayed at an excellent backpackers called The Bug (strongly recommended), who offered me great advice on where to go on my bike. I spent most of the week exploring the trails on Dun Mountain, including a 2 day trip where I stayed overnight in a hut. Here are some photos.









I'm carrying my bike round with me at the moment, looking forward to exploring some more biking options down near Queenstown.

I've fixed the pictures from my last post, so use the sidebar to navigate to that if you want to see pics of The Dutchy.