So don’t often frequent boxing day sales, even in Australia, as I don’t like the crowds and the blind sighted need to buy because of another few percent off. Maybe deals for some larger items it pays off to venture out, though for smaller things not sure it really makes a big difference considering what you have to go through to obtain the item. So today, out of interest and possible insanity, I went out to one of Vancouver’s largest Malls, Metropolis; 900 stores and lost count of how many thousand people. 
After breakfast I helped a friend make Gluhwein (German warm, spiced red wine) something we were going to share on the beach at sunset. 
Well the day is here and full of cheer. Family and friends come together to share laughter. Well even if a distance away thoughts never go astray. Every family is different and friendships varied though we all choose who to share our time with. 
T'was the night before Christmas and not a creature was stirring not even a ...
Many are now on holidays, or soon will be. So here is a Holiday greeting for you all! Particularly for those south of the equator :) I hope that you enjoy reading and viewing my posts as much as I enjoy putting them together!
The Bald Eagle, apparently, I’m yet to see, situate themselves on Canada’s west coast during the winter months to take advantage of the salmon in rivers and streams. Though the topic here isn’t about the eagles haunting the natural environment, rather those which are spawn the pavement and sites around the Vancouver’s Downtown area. The BC Lions club has initiated the street art movement. They have had a couple of previous features and this year it is 2m fibreglass eagles painted and decorated individually by artists. The range of takes on decorating the eagles is great to see and certainly provides alternate views whilst wandering the city. 
As with the end of any trip or holiday, always the question arises - 'so what was the best part'.
Picked up a 8am with the weather looking a little doubtful. However since we were heading back toward the west coast I had looked at the wrong forecast. Even though access to Mt Cook is from the east the weather is predominantly determined from conditions in the west. Anyway there was a chance of light rain in the morning and clearing in the afternoon. Never got the rain and when the cloud really cleared around midday got blue skyline behind Mt Cook so fabulous photos. Considering it rains 143 days in the year here and the majority are cloudy I was very fortunate. Needless to say I have many photos as with each step on the way back I was going wow look at that - even better!
Headed off out of Queenstown on the old gold mining route and got to see the scenery of Central Otago. It slowly transformed from the huge mountain ranges to smaller hills. Finally making it to Dunedin, known as the Edinburgh of the South (can’t comment fully as never been to Edinburgh- later in the year!?). The city is very much a university town with a busy café and bar strip. The university year was just kicking off so a little quiet still. Stayed at On Top Hostel which was situated on top of a bar.
A long amazing day. Picked up at 7.45am and were at Milford sound at 1.45pm. Back on the bus at 3.45pm and arrived back into Queenstown at 7.45pm. Drove basically straight through to Te Anau with a couple of brief photo stops and to fill the water bottle up in a river that is 99.9% pure due to run of from glaciers. Made way through Fiordland National Park for a Cruise along Milford Sound out to Tasman Sea.
Left Jen in Rotorua as she was keen to see more of the town and go to Hell’s Gate. I was tempted to stay and spend time at the mud pools also but the weather was looking really good to do the Tongariro Crossing tomorrow. The smell was also a little more intense today - good to get out! So the bus took us on a drive around town before heading south to the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area which is famous for its mud pools and Lady Knox Geyser. It is amazing how active the area is with mud pools back in Rotorua, along the road passed many steaming areas and now here as well. The Lady Know Geyser goes off at 10.15am everyday - with a little help from some soap powder. Was wondering how nature could be so predictably accurate!! Whilst it will go off by itself every 24-48 hours each day a park ranger makes it erupt for a large crowd of eager spectators. We then went to the visitors centre to walk through park area. The path takes you past many different looking craters and mud pools before going out into bush areas with waterfalls, caves and lakes. Coming back past the Champagne pool at 740C a few more craters and back to the beginning.
The ride out of town took us up to Mt Eden, one of Auckland’s volcanoes with great views across the city. Could also see from there One Tree Hill which atone point had a tree, now has a statue in commemoration of the signing of the Waitangi Treaty. Then leaving toward the lush landscape south. Drove through the Bombay Hills and Waikato region before stopping at Waitomo for 3 hours where we went through 2 caves. The first was the glow worm caves - the main attraction and over 30 million years old. The limestone caves were huge caverns which went down toward an internal river. We got into a boat in the dark and in silence and made our way along the river. Suddenly above us a glow intensified and there were thousands of glow worms scattered across the cave roof. Have never seen so many little green dots of light. The next cave was just a limestone cave - no glow worms as no river ran through this one. But the formations within it were certainly more spectacular than the first.
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