Heaven on earth

Heaven on earth

Last night was cold. C-O-L-D! I believe it wasn't sub-zero but my toes thought it may have been close! Still, as is often the case, cold nights bring about beautiful days and that was certainly true today. It's been gorgeous sunshine all day though the wind has been biting. It's been interesting watching the weather over the Southern Alps - it looks pretty squally and miserable where I've just come from on the western side, but so far the yukky looking weather hasn't rolled itself down to the eastern valleys and plains. Hope it stays that way.

Today has been highlighted by birds and scenery. I've seen kea, robin, chaffinch, grebe, funny-little-black-ducks (help me out here teejay!) and a gorgeous tiny wee bird with a lovely chirp but whose identity I have no idea about. In addition to the bird life the Southern Alps scenery has been stupendous. Snow-capped mountains, wide open riverbeds, pastures of lambs, tussock lands, vibrant blue lakes . . . . . . it's amazing to reaslise that this all presents itself in such a short distance. Coast to coast in a direct line is only about 170kms and I'm still a long way from the east coast.

Today's choice of blip was, as you may well imagine, a tough one. This one wins out because it's off the main beaten track - a gravel-road shortcut to cut 40 or 50kms off my journey as I start to head towards Timaru using more back roads than main roads. This is near the start of the Lake Lyndon to Lake Coleridge road - gravel all the way. Gotta love these back-road places!