Cake?

It's back to Queenstown today, for one good reason - it's my birthday and this is a good place to spend it! It's a busy place with lots of people and loads of choices of places to spend the evening. I plan on watching the super 12 rugby games, having a couple of beers and meeting up with some random people who don't know me yet!
Twizel yesterday was nice. It's a sleepy little town, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but it's surrounded by spectacular scenery. For those LOTR fans, it's where the battle of the Pelennor Fields and the infamous ride of the Rohirrim were filmed, so if you know the films, you'll know roughly what the landscape is like.
I was slightly surprised when the lady at the campsite suggested that I was brave to be camping, but understood it this morning when I opened my tent to look out on a frosty campsite! Fortunately my camping gear is good and my sleeping bag is toasty, so I didn't get cold during the night. It was a suprise though, considering that I was walking around in shorts and jandals only yesterday afternoon, but Twizel is a long way above sea level, so I suppose a bit of a chill in the night air is only to be expected.
I ended up getting the bus to Queenstown, but given that it's cheap and has a film to watch to fill up the three hours travel time, I reckon it wasn't too bad a choice. It was nice to be coming back to somewhere I've been before and know where everything is located. It can be a little wearing sometimes when you are constantly arriving in new places and having to go out and find everything all over again. I should point out that I'm not complaining though! The town hasn't changed much except that now the summer season is over, they're digging up the roads everywhere and blasting the dangerous cliffs on the road in. It's starting to look more wintery already way down here in the south. The mountains surrounding Queenstown have got a light dusting of fresh snow on their peaks and it all looks rather spectacular. I plan to spend a couple of days chilling out and doing some short walks that I didn't get round to last time I was here and then I may head off to do the Routeburn walk. The Routeburn is another of the "great walks" and everyone I've met who has done it says it's gorgeous. Of course, I'll let you know how plans progress.
Many thanks to everyone who sent me birthday emails and a special thanks to the Castle Camps Forbes clan, who called me this morning. It was great to speak to you all and I'm looking forward to seeing you all soon.
So take good care everyone, I'll be back on the blog in a couple of days.