From Clay Cliffs we drove to Twizel, were we did a big grocery shop, passed Lake Pukaki, where we lunched, then onto Mt Cook Village, via Peter’s Lookout. We intended to Freedom Camp at White Horse Hill Camping ground but while having a drink in Mt Cook Village, sore a weather report forecasting snow. Bruce and Cathy’s van was the only one of the three vans where no chains were provided, so we decided not to risk the road being closed and instead evacuated to Glentanner Holiday Park outside the National Park for the night. It rained all night but it was quiet in the morning, so we initially thought the rain had ceased, until we looked outside. There was two inches of snow everywhere. We drove slowly onto Lake Tekapo, due to the slushy snow all over the roads. Lake Tekapo was socked in, only 50 or so meters ahead of you could be seen at best. You could not see the normally gorgeous views at Lake Tekapo. We tried to get a Powered Site at Lake Tekapo but they were fully booked out. So, we drove on, through Fairlie (where it was still snowing a bit) to Geraldine and onto Orara Bridge to camp at Route 79 Holiday Park for the night. After dinner, we drove back to Geraldine to watch a movie called “The Outrun”. Next morning Cathy and Bruce drove back into Geraldine and had Eggs Benedict at a cafe, while the other 4 did some clothes washing. When we returned to Orara Bridge, they were having trouble drying their clothes, so we all went back into Geraldine for some shopping and some had coffee, only to return to still wet clothes. Obviously the dryer was not working. They gave up and hung their damp clothes in their van and drove the two mobile laundries onto Rakaia Gorge, where we all walked the Lookout track. Robyn was inspired to get almost the whole group singing from “The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music”, on video. Ask Robyn or Kim to play it for you! It is truly cringe worthy. After returning to our vans we headed back to Methven to see if ‘Opuke Thermal Pools & Spa’ was any good. They were modern but really, just heated, normally chlorinated water, with a $60 per head price tag, so we gave them a miss, and instead headed for Akaroa on “the bluff” east of Christchurch, where we stayed the night in the most modern and most expensive holiday park of the trip, at $82 a van, called Akaroa Top 10 Holiday Park.