After leaving Glasgow at 8am Saturday, we landed in Christchurch this morning (Monday) at 5am, bleary-eyed and not knowing which way was up. At 7.30, the car rental place opened and we got on the road by 8.

I found an article in the New Zealand press recently with the results of the annual pie awards. There are awards for different pie types (steak and cheese, vegetarian etc) so I figured we could try to visit any of the recommended bakeries on our route. Now. Although the Fairlie Bakehouse didn't win any of those awards, it's extremely well reviewed and on our first stop this morning we found out why. We got a steak and mushroom and a smoked chicken and mushroom. They were both great but the steak and mushroom was spectacular. Really flaky, buttery, golden pastry; majority of the filling steak; and the most delicious gravy I've had in years. If you're passing here, stop!

The east coast was really grey with low-hanging cloud but once we hit Burke's Pass before Lake Tekapo, the skies opened as if the hills were holding back the clouds in the east. Looking back some of them seemed to be spilling over the tops.

The Southern Alps are breathtaking. Literally. We drove in silence a lot of the way between Tekapo and Mt. Cook Village, craning our necks to try see the craggy tops of some of the world's newest mountains. The tallest are blanketed in cloud and the weather isn't due to be any better tomorrow to see the big ones. Fingers crossed it breaks before we leave Wed morning.

This afternoon we walked up to the toe of Tasman Glacier. Or, actually, where the toe was about twenty years ago. Now it's several hundred meters further up the valley so we viewed it from afar. Spectacular but scary seeing how much of it had been lost in such a short space of time. The scours in the sides of the valley still very visible from where it was a couple of decades ago.

We're hoping to walk to the Mueller hut tomorrow, weather permitting. Right now, we're going to go get dinner and a drink and some sleep! It's 5.30 pm and I don't think we'll last too much longer!

Until next time (won't be every day and certainly won't always be this long),

Cathal and Coley