Its been a bit of a whistle stop tour of the South Island. You can tell that its got a different vibe to the North straight away. We've checked out the main spots so far by only spending a couple of days at each place but you could spend a lot more! Maybe another time, or as How puts it 'When I'm an OAP and can appreciate the scenery more and not surf or jump off clifts', which is a fair enough comment! the Ferry trip over had some kodak moment upon entering the Marlborough Sounds. After Docking at Picton we drove for an hour along a really winey road to Nelson. Stayed at an Ok hostel, bit pricey and we ended up missing the free soup and breakfast. Highlight of Nelson was when i was finding a dark space to park i walked past a van while a couple were having a 'special hug', Awkward!? From Nelson we drove to the Abel Tasman National Park. The closest thing i could relate it to is a cold water Carribean. White sandy bays dotted along the coastline, clear turquoise water and a rather mellow vibe. We hired a double kayak for four hours. On an island there was a family of Seals. We got pretty close to them and almost got stuck. After a day and night at Abel Tasman we headed to Greymouth, which is on the North West Coast, for a surf. The sea was big and messy even though there was barely any wind so we spent most of the morning trying to find a sheltered beach. In the afternoon, had a good session on an intense wave! That evening we went on a Brewery tour at Monteiths Brewery. For about 10 pounds you got the tour, a free taster and a barbie. When we were doing the tastings the lady left the room to change the barrel. We tryed downing as much as we could in 3 minutes. In the space of a 20 minute taster we must of had about 4 pints. Good times. In the morning we went surfing at a river mouth. It was still big so we jumped off at the end of the breakwater which was slightly sketchy. After 20 minutes of intense paddling and duck diving i though i was out back. A set came through and pushed me right back. with in 10 minutes i was 400 metres down the beach in the rip. It was hopeles to paddle against it so decided to paddle into the beach. After Greymouth we headed to Franz Josef Glacier. While there I went Ice Climbing on the Glacier which was Awesome, absolutely loved it! You walk 20 minutes through the Rainforest then spend about an hour and a half walking up the glacier, through some blue ice caves and around crevasses with crampons on. Got about 10 climbs in on four different routes. Done an over hang. Me and another guy were the only ones to complete it in our group of eight, but i decided to do it with only one axe, just for s***s and giggles, and ended up completing it. My right arm did fill like it was going to fall off though. In the evening we went to the local bar, wasn't to busy but it did sell the same beer we had the other night in the brewery for cheap. From Franz Josef we drove to Wanaka via Haast beach. The beach was white, long and deserted. There seems like there is alot of potential for good waves and beaches around the south west coast but access to the beaches seems non-existent as we soon found out. We saw about 2 km from where we were there was a good wave on the end of a river mouth. We drove down the road then went through a gate onto an unsealed road. This gravel road then turned into sand, but we were did not sink. When discovering that you couldn't get to the beach along this track I decided to do a three point turn. This turned into a one point turn as on the second maneuver the van began to dig itself a hole in the sand. the front and rear tyres were sunk about half a foot in the sand. To add to the excitement we realized that we were well behind the high tide mark, well actually in the river bed and the tide was slowly but surely coming in. School Boy error! There was a couple of shops about 2-3kms away. I ran there and it turned out that there was a garage with a guy and a 4x4 truck. He acted as if it happened all the time and went to get us out which was a relief! Back onto selaed roads we went to one more gravel track to the beach, making sure it did not turn to sand. We stopped just by the beach and walked the rest. About 50metres up the track we bumped into a French lady who had got herself in the same position we had just moments before. We acted all cool, like "it happens all the time" and drove into town to get the 4x4 man we just met. After a 3 hour lunch stop we carried on our journey to Wanaka. In Wanaka we parked our car in a carpark next to the road kust out of town. At 4.30am a guy was banging on our window. I was quite relieved to find that it was actually a parking warden and not the local rapist. But what a crap job!He moved us on, so we drove to a nearly built new build village with no lamposts and slept there. In the morning we went to Puzzling World, which is a visual illusion and puzzle park. It was pretty trippy and would be fun to do after a couple of beers. Now we are in Queenstown, arrived a couple of hours ago. Got the Bunjy jump and Canyoning booked for the weekend. Going to drive to Milford Sounds tonight so we can either do a cruise or more Kayaking and then drive back to Queenie Friday night for a Fergburger (recommended by Mr Hearn himself) and a couple of nights out. Thats all folks....... seeya next time for some more crazy adventure time!