New Zealand, Castle Hill and Mount Cook

Arriving in New Zealand we were greeted with 14 degree temperatures in Christchurch. Lovely and refreshing compared to Krabi's sweeltering 34 degrees. What a long and cold flight on Air Asia.
We quite quickly got into some cool adventures with Kelly.
First day in New Zealand we went to Castle Hill Canterbury, and went bouldering, rockclimbing, and caving.

Kelly Rockclimbig Castle Hill

The Cave Stream Scenic Reserve sits among spectacular limestone outcrops, with views of the Craigieburn and Torlesse Ranges.
A 362 metre long cave within the reserve is one of the most outstanding natural features in the Canterbury region check it out at the following link. http://www.castlehill.net.nz/castlehill/cavestream/cavestream.php
The clear water got u to our waists and it was freezing!! But it was awesome fun!

Kelly, Duds and I also went to Mount Cook and stayed at Unwin Lodge.

We went on a short walk to Red Tarns,

eyeing up Mount Sefton

Mount Sefton through the clouds

Duds and Kelly snacking at Red Tarns

kelly chillin

Duds walking to a bouldering spot looking like hes off to a hiphop dance session

Kelly Climbing with Duds belaying at Pukakai boulder just out of Mount Cook Village

Duds Climbing and Tanya belaying at Pukaki rock.

Kelly and Tanya walking back from Red Tarns

We were introduced to multi pitch sport rock climbing at Sebastapol near the Mount Cook Village, climbing about 90m high. Kelly led us up the first pitch (which means she climbed up the rock and used caribenas to clip into the bolts and then clipped the rop into each bena as she goes up). Then Kelly belayed me and Duds up (so we were climbing attached to the rope that Kelly clipped in 30m above us) and then Dudley led us on the final 2 pitches. We saw a fantastic view of the alluring Mount Cook. Afer belaying ourselves down 15 m we then scrambled down the scree back to the car.

 We also enjoyed catching up with friends and family in Oamaru

Nana after hip replacement day before she left hospital

Dudley telling stories to James in Kakanui

We enjoyed meeting up with Family and Friends, I spent the morning on Kelly and Simon's farm rounding up the sheep to check for fly strike, with the help of Jan ad Bo the dogs..although Bo did get a bit naughty and was chasing the sheep too much, making them all panicky so she had to be tied up... Jan is teaching her a few tricks of the trade.

Bo chasing sheep

I got to ride the 4wd good fun!

They put us to good work on the farm, I helped Kelly paint the woolshed roof and Dudley and I put a wooden fence up .

pretty cow

Kelly checking out the cows to make sure they arent stuck in the trees!

After a bit of hard work Kelly and I went to Arthurs Pass where we stayed in a wee batch for the night next to the general store. Kelly's mates, a couple of really cool Fox glacier and alpine guides joined us fo the night and the next morning we set out on our epic mission....