New Zealand … And now for the South Island

Hello. Ian here. I have offered to help Jacqui out by doing a guest spot on the blog for Day 6 - the commencement of our 7 day hiking trip which starts with a tough hike up to Ben Lomond Saddle above Queenstown.  It was a restless broken sleep, anxious anticipation bordering on trepidation for the trails, trials and tribulations that awaited us - at the breakfast buffet, let alone the mountainous climb. We woke, we rose, we ... Oh for goodness sake ... give me that. I'm back, having wrestled my iPad away from Ian.  Today we began our 7 day hike of some of the best trails in the Southlands of New Zealand. If you want to see what our itinerary looks like here is the link -  https://worldexpeditions.com/New-Zealand/Trekking-Walking/Fiordland-Hollyford-and-Stewart-Island-Trails . Today, as Ian has already explained, was to hike to the Ben Lomond Saddle. We had breakfast at the hotel before meeting the group so were ready to go well fueled for the adventure ahead. We met our group in th

Today we said goodbye to the east coast as we headed inland towards Queenstown. Once again we were up early, checked out, in the car and on our way well before 8.00 am. We headed out of Dunedin towards a suburb called Mosgiel where a newly placed Ad Lab was calling our name.  The Ad Lab was called Tour de Lilliput and was 5 gorgeous little street libraries located throughout the suburb. Each free library had been decorated by the owners who were called the Guardians. Each one was a different theme ... farm, holiday, Hairy McLary, dogs and smiley faces. A ripper little Ad Lab which really taught us nothing but gave our library loving hearts joy. Our next destination was the township of Lawrence whose population is just over 450. It is a township steeped in gold rush history and we enjoyed wandering the streets (okay ... two streets - that’s about it) using an Ad Lab to learn about the various buildings and the ebb and flow of population (at one time when the gold rush started there were