Postcard from NZ.

Landed in queenstown on Christmas Eve. After what must be one of the most
beautiful flights in the world from Auckland down the west coast of South
Island, simply stunning.

It's hot in queenstown. 28 degrees in the afternoon was forecast for Christmas
Day. Lovely. I planned to walk up Ben Lomond, which is 1750m straight up from
our apartment, with Fiona and Alastair, and be back in town for Christmas lunch
before it got too hot.

The suggested time of 8 hours for the round trip seemed sluggish to say the
least, we had planned to meet Shirley and Louise at the top of the cable car 3
hours later. 2 hours to the top, and the view is stunning. The summit diagram
claims you can see Ben Nevis, which is surprising considering the 19000 km
distance. 40 minutes jog down 1000m to the cable car station and a few rides on
the luge to finish off a pretty perfect Christmas morning.

I wore my H18 technical tee, and tiny H18 running shorts, perfect combination of
cover to keep the sun off and light shorts to keep all the right bits and pieces
ventilated.

As a side note, following a conversation I had with a kiwi chap, we both decided
it would be much better if New Zealanders started using the traditional Mauri
names for hills such as Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis and there is even a glen Orchy,
rather then the unimaginative copies that the Scottish settlers used.

Andy Blackett