Outdoors Fun by Emma

Today we woke up to a really sunny day, which made the mountains look astonishing.

Then we set off in our car to our next stop. This was just a stopover to break up the drive to Kaikoura, where we will be when it is my birthday, and we are going swimming with dolphins!!! We did some stops along the way. Our first stop was Lake Matheson, which is called the 'mirror lake'. We went on a walk round the lake.

On a still day, the lake reflects the mountains that rise up behind it. Luckily it was a still morning, so there weren't any ripples. The mountains it reflected had snow on them, so it looked even more impressive.

After that, we drove to a small town next to the ocean, called Hokitika. There were lots of sticks on the beach, and other people had made dens from them, so we decided to build one too, but a different style. Ours was the best one on the beach.

There is going to be a den building competition on Sunday; it's just a shame we wont be there because I know we would have won! Next we drove to our hotel which is on a road called 'Arthur's Pass'. The road was long and twisty, but the views were amazing.

At one viewpoint we saw an alpine parrot called a 'Kea'.

These birds are known for stealing things and throwing them over cliffs, but the one we saw was quite nervous of us. We left our hotel to go for a walk to a nearby waterfall called 'The Devils's Punchbowl'. When we got there, it was really powerful, but not as powerful as the one at Milford Sound.

We had a drink from it because it was so clear and pure.

My Mum threw my dad his fleece to catch, but as it was so windy, it blew off the platform, and my Dad had to go into the forest below to get it!! We did a lot of walking today, so I am ready for my bed tonight!!!