Greetings. So, unbelievably our time in New Zealand is now nearly over. Strangely I am typing this blog from the same internet cafe back in Taupo as I did the last blog from, but in that 3 or so weeks, Lee and I have travelled a further 2500kms or so!

After we left Taupo in the North island last time, we headed down to Wellington for a day and a half, purposely not spending too long there on the way out, as we wanted to spend a bit more time exploring it on our return from the South island. The main thing we wanted to check out in Welly on our first visit was the 'Colossus Squid' they have on display in their exhibition. You may or may not have heard about this guy - we hadn't until we got talking to a girl we met on a trip we did. She said the biggest squid ever to be caught (off the Antarctic coast) was at the exhibition, and that it had made headlines all round the world as it was soooo huge, so we just had to check it out. We arrived at the Te Papa Exhibition Centre all excited, only to be a little disappointed to discover it wasn't as big as we had imagined. Don't get me wrong, at 4.1 metres in length, it was indeed pretty massive (and quite gross, all pickled in the odd shaped tank) but I guess we were hoping to see something about 10 metres or so.

The next day we caught the Interislander Ferry over to the south island. We arrived late afternoon and decided to settle ourselves in the beautiful, quaint little town of Picton for the night. It was a really lovely summers evening and the birds were singing their little hearts out and we both mentioned how much it reminded us of one of those rare British summers evenings. One of the main differences being that Britain doesn't also have the equally deafening sound of the croaking insects as in NZ. We enjoyed the tranquility of watching the small boats bobbing about in the small harbour and quayside, and felt that we were already seeing the talked about difference between NZ's north and south islands, even though we hadn't even travelled further than about 2kms from the port at Picton at this point.

A day or so later we started to make our way southwards, trying to follow the improvised itenerary we had set ourselves. We had a beautiful drive through the twists and turns of the mountainous Marlborough Sound and a little stop at the town of Blenheim before arriving at Kaikoura which was our intended first stop off point. We were quite shocked at how brown the landscape was in a lot or areas. We said how much it reminded us of parts of South Australia where it looked so arid. Thankfully it is not like this in all parts, and we were soon driving through some amazingingly beautiful and dramatic mountainous scenery, and even a big stretch of highway that ran adjacent to the sea and was just like driving on Australia's Great Ocean Road, except the sun was shining!

We arrived at Kaikoura in the afternoon and headed round to Point Kean on the peninsula to check out a seal colony and have a walk up to a look out point. There were some really big rock pools along the craggy coast line, which I absolutely love exploring. Lee and I were also amazed at some of the sea weed that was absolutely everywhere - it was the biggest sea weed ever, and we were just thinking of all the different uses it could have, when we suddenly spotted a big sea lion out the corner of our eyes. He/she was just sitting on some rocks doing a bit of sun bathing and a spot of grooming. We crept over a bit nearer so we could get some photo's, and although it did see us, it wasn't too bothered as we kept at a safe distance. We had never seen a wild sea lion before so that was quite cool.

Next day we were up early for our boat trip out to do some whale watching. We were a bit apprehensive when we were warned the weather was rough and storms predicted for later that day meant the waves were already at 3 metres high and there was a severe chance of sea sickness. We dosed up on the sea sick pills and ducked out to buy some ginger in preparation for our voyage. The journey out there was pretty mad - the boat thankfully was pretty new and really sturdy looking, but the waves were already really high and absolutely lashing at the sides and front of the boat, but the good old pills were doing what they were supposed to. The guide had told us there was a 95% chance of seeing a whale and hopefully some dolphins too, but said we would all have to be patient whilst they put the listening devices into the water to track their movements. After being moored up, or bobbing up and down ferociously for about 10 minutes in 2 different spots we were starting to think he had been a little optimistic with his 95% promises, but sure enough, just as we were about to move to another spot, we caught the first sight of the whale. We all watched with baited breath as it emerged to the surface of the water and ducked up and down a few times (to take a breath basically). We were told it was Hump Back Whale and that it was one that frequented this area of the sea a lot. After about 3 minutes he let out a spurt of water before disappearing for the last time. As you can imagine it is quite hard trying to take a picture of a whale that keeps dipping in and out of the water in slightly different areas each time, coupled with the fact that the boat was bobbing up and down like a giant see-saw, but we were glad to have seen it with our own eyes nonetheless. Back in the boat we were just being told some more information about all the different whale species and their habitats etc, when the captain suddenly announced that a big school of dolphins were now accompanying our boat. We all leapt up and out onto the deck to be greeted by the most amazing sight ever. There must have been around 40 or 50 dolphins all the way around the boat, leaping up and out of the water, and bobbing and weaving all the way round the boat, and coming right up to the sides of the boat. Being a real animal lover anyway, this was one of the most amazing sights I had ever witnessed and my heart was nearly in my mouth it was that fantastic! We just didn't know where to look next as it seemed that every single dolphin was vying for our attention trying to out-do all the others by jumping even higher than they were. This amazing spectacle went on for about 2 or 3 minutes, but it is certainly something that will stay with me forever. I have to say that it more than made up for not gettting the greatest view of the whale on the way out too. We were soon heading back for shore when another whale was spotted, this time it was a Spotted Sperm Whale. Again we all rushed out, all trying furiously to capture it as it came to the surface. This whale proved to be more of a show-man than the first one too, as he came out of the water a lot more at the end before the final 'spurt'!

Later that day we drove to Christchurch, ready to spend a couple of days there and also in order to catch the Tranz Alpine Train that had been recommended to us by several people. It had been billed as being the most spectacular way of taking in the scenic route between Christchurch on the east coast, to Greymouth on the west coast. The alternative was to drive the same route, driving through 'Arthurs Pass' en route, which is a famously scenic mountainous area. We boarded the train, excited to be having a little mini holiday for a couple of days, as we had decided to leave the van in Christchurch, and instead of doing the return journey in 1 day as most people do, we would be staying overnight in Greymouth in a hotel we had booked the night before. Now I don't want to come accross all negative, but to cut a long story short, we were both really quite disappointed with the journey. First of all we were sat opposite a really annoying couple of old people who just didn't know when to shut up, and so we sat and listened to 4 hours of tiring chit chat. We also found that the 'spectacular' scenery we were hoping for was so far not out-doing anything we had already seen when we had been driving. When we finally arrived at Greymouth we checked straight into our hotel and headed straight for the bar! We had been warned about Greymouth and many of its inhabitants, and discovered almost immediately what it is they are said to be! It actually turned out to be a great and hilariously funny mini break in Greymouth, even though nearly all the pubs we went to had signs up saying they were closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I didn't even notice the brown tap water I had been drinking in the night in our room until the morning, but even that just added to the comedy of our time there. We made sure we were booked into a carriage that had 1 way facing seats for the return journey, so thankfully we enjoyed our journey more on the way back. Since we did this trip on the train, we pretty much followed the same route in the van from Greymouth, following much of the start of the train route, and we both said how much more scenic it was from the van!

Back in Christchurch we spent a couple of days wandering around the town, doing a self guided walk of all the touristy sights, and did a spot of shopping and coffee shop crawls. We both thought Christchuch seemed a good place for eating and drinking, although nothing else really stood out to us particularly.

From Christchurch we drove to Dunedin, a lovely town with historical links to Scotland. On the way to Dunedin, we stopped off at an area of the coast along the main highway called the Moeraki Boulders. I guess they are the NZ equivalent of Englands Stonehenge. Along a beautiful strech of coast line, there are a big collection of boulders, half submerged in the water and the adjoining rocks. Some are perfectly formed in little groups all together, and some are displaced and partially formed. They really are very interesting and puzzling to see, and they go on for a good 2 or so kilometres along the coast.

Once in Dunedin, we opted to do a 1 hour guided tour of the town to get the low down on the history of the place and to see some of the fantasic old buildings in the centre, which in cluded taking some obligatory snaps of 'the most photographed building in the southern hemisphere', which is Dunedin Train Station. Lee and I are not sure who laid this claim and thought that yes, it is indeed a fine looking building, but find it a little hard to believe that this is more photographed than say, Sydney Opera House, but hey ho! After lunch we headed over to the other side of town to pay a visit to the 'worlds steepest residential street' - Baldwin Street. I parked the van at the bottom of the street and after taking a peek at just how steep it was, decided to opt out of trying to climb it. Lee however was feeling far more energetic than I and decided to give it a go so he could get his certificate of achievement from the Post Office next door. I watched (feeling a sudden pang of guilt and laziness) as he headed straight for the top, and watched as he disappeared into the size of an ant. Once he descended, we both drove to the top just so I could get to see the view from the top. I was pretty amazed at the fantastic view from the top, and to get a feel for just how steep it was. Later that afternoon we headed out to the Otago Peninsular, enjoying the beautiful views along the twisty little coastal road, passing pretty little villages along the way. We arrived at 'Penguin Place' mid afternoon, ready for out guided tour of the 'Yellow Eyed Penguin' colony, situated on an area of beach on a reserve in some private farmland. We headed out onto the reserve, ducking into little hides to keep our eyes peeled for the little penguins. We came across an 8 week old baby pretty much as soon as we got there, and were fascinated to just watch him sitting there. He didn't seem that bothered by us, so we were able to get some fairly good, close up pictures of him. We then headed over to a cliff edge where we then witnessed some seals basking on the rocks. One that had previously been camouflaged against the rocks, then stuck his head up and became quite aggresive to another one that had dragged himself up onto the same rock. We watched as a brief fight then ensued. It wasn't long before the rain clouds came over and we were all having to run for cover in one of the hides. We did spot another penguin at close range, but he was a little more timid and decided to sit himself under a little penguin shelter and just sit there out of the rain. Some of the older people on the trip said how disappointed they were with the trip, but Lee and I both thought it was pretty cool getting up so close to the penguins, even though we only saw 2.

The next day we left Dunedin, and headed for Invercargill which is another big town on the southern tip of the south island. We didn't find anything of real interest for us to do there, and so just used it as an overnight stop for our next intended destination, as a lot of the journey times driving between towns can be very long and tiring. Although there may not be a great deal of traffic on the roads compared to the UK, the roads tend to be only single carriage ways and if you get stuck behind someone slow, you have the frustration of only being able to go as fast as they drive.

The following day we headed further round the coast to a place called Te Anau, which is the gateway town to Milford and Doubtful Sound cruise trips. We booked our lunch time cruise for the next day, and then headed into Te Anau town for a little trip to the small cinema there. We noticed when we got out of the van that there was a really eerie yellow lightness/darkness over everywhere, and we could look up at the sun in the sky, and even that seemed like a strange orange ball in a yellowy sky. We found out the next day it was due to the smoke being blown over the Tasman sea from the awful devastating bush fires in Australia. We went to bed that night, and about an hour later it started to rain really heavily, and it pretty much stayed that way all night. When we got up in the morning we were quite frustrated to think that our trip was going to suffer as a result of the endless rain, but as we boarded the bus, our driver and guide, Bruce, exclaimed how fortuanate we were that it was raining. He explained that in order to see Milford Sound in all its glory, you need to see it when it is raining, or has been raining recently, so you can appreciate all the thousands of temporary waterfalls that appear only when it is or has been raining. The coach journey out to Milford stopped at Mirror Lake for us to take pictures, but due to the rain, the famous mirror reflection of the mountains was all distorted due to the ripples in the water. It wasn't long before we were deep inside Milford Sound National Park and seeing some of the many temporary waterfalls bursting over the edges of the mountains. We were soon boarding the 'Lady of The Sounds' boat for our lunch time cruise of the Milford Sound and buffet. The cruise lasted for a couple of hours and had some great commentary and information on all the differents sights we were passing. The rain continued to fall, sometimes in droves so hard we thought it would come through the boat, but it then eased off for a while so everyone could head out on deck to take pictures of the wonderful scenery. We had to do battle with the gale force winds a few times, but even this made the journey more fun and memorable. One of the places the boat stopped at for us was an underground observatory in edge of the fjord. It is basically a floating pontoon display/information area with a spiral staircase that leads down about 6 floor levels below the sea. It is then a circular area with tough re-inforced perspex windows all around that you can look out of. By each window is a planted tray on which each has its own little eco-system where the marine life has taken over, and it attracts all sorts of fish and plant life. We saw some 11 legged star fish and other cool looking fish at fairly close range which was pretty cool. As our boat headed back for the shore to meet our bus, Lee and I both said that this had been our favourite thing we had done in NZ so far, and felt lucky that it had rained so much. It's not often we are thankful for the fact that it is raining, but this was one of those times.

From Te Anau the next day, we headed for the crazy activity town of Queenstown. Once again, we had an interesting drive. We were headed along another mountainous stretch of single lane highway when we passed a sign warning us of 'stock ahead'. After driving for another 2 - 3 kms we were starting to think this must have been an old sign as we couldn't see anything approaching. We decided to pull in to a small area at the side of the road and have our breakfast as we had already been driving for a couple of hours. As we got out of the van, another motorist pulled in beside us and said, 'just to warn you, there are about a million sheep just about to come up over that hill and towards you in the road'. We sat there with our cereal and watched in amazement as literally thousands of sheep suddenly appeared in the distance at the top of a hill on the road we had been driving on. As they started to slowly filter over the hill towards us, we could see the start of a really slow stream of traffic trying to drive in between the flitting sheep. We sat and watched as they kept coming and coming and coming, like the biggest army of never ending sheep that you sometimes try to count when you can't sleep. Some of them tried to climb the impossible steep cliff edge on the inside, whilst some jumped over the low rise crash barrier, wandering dangerously close to the cliff edge down towards the lake below. 10 minutes later they were still coming, all wandering past bleeting and shuffling forwards in the same direction. Still the cars, lorries and coaches were trying their best to creep slowly in between them. We felt sure we would see a few of the sheep get crushed by a vehicle, but amazingly they all dodged out the way of each vehicle and kept the pace up, up and over another hill and round the corner and eventually out of sight. Eventually we saw 2 farmers/shepherds and a couple of sheep dogs at the back of the group making sure all was going to plan. I would imagine there must have been over a hundred thousand sheep pass us that morning on that bit of road - a very strange but interesting sight to witness!

We arrived in Queenstown around lunch time and headed straight for the bungy centre so Lee could book up his big bungy jump that he had been looking forward to doing before we even came away. He didn't want to mess around with the 'normal' 42 metre drops of the majority of bungy's, and opted to do his first ever bungy jump on the famed Nevis Bungy, a whopping 134 metre drop from a suspended platform above a canyon! I explained to Lee that I had lost my nerve about doing the jump after seeing the leaflet which shows the miniscule, precariously suspended platform in the middle of the canyon, and seeing an ant sized dot attached to a bit of bungy cord heading towards the earth. I said I would come out to the platform with him and take all the photo's and video him etc, and that afterwards I would do the 'Nevis Arc', tandem with him. The arc is basically a big sky swing that you can either do on your own or as a pair. I would have been to much of a wimp to have done that on my own too, but the fact that I could do it with Lee spurred me on to do it.

As the bungy bus headed out to the hillside, everyone on board's adrenalin and heart beats were thumping. We eventually arrived at the location and all sat in silence as the bus climbed the seriously steep hillside, as we all took in the enormity of what we each were about to do. We were soon being strapped into harnesses and sent out in groups of 6 in a small cable car to the platform of doom. Even though I wasn't doing the jump, my heart was beating so fast, and hands were trembling. I kept asking Lee if he was ok and still wanted to jump. I could tell by his face that this was almost a huge ambition of his that he was about to fulfil and he was as ready as he was ever going to be, all pumped full of adrenalin and ready to take the leap of faith. One by one everyone else in the pod took there turn to stand on the dreaded edge of the platform, be counted down from 3 and plunge themselves out over the edge and down into the huge canyon. Still I kept asking Lee if he was ok and he insisted he was fine and still more than up for doing it. As he was called forward to be sat in the dentist like chair to have the bungy cord attached to his feet, he still had a look of real excitement on his face. Everyone was told that you must stand at the edge of the platform, toes slightly over the edge, and that you must leap out from the platform in either a dive position, arms above your head, or a Jesus type, arms out to your sides fashion. I stood there almost dizzy with a mixture of nerves and excitement for Lee, hoping and praying that this wasn't going to be the last time I saw him 3D. All fairness to Lee, he walked straight to the edge of the platform, toes over the edge, and on the count of 3, leapt Jesus like, like a graceful gymnast out and over the edge. I quickly ran to the viewing clear perspex strip in the middle of the platform and watched him tumble in what seemed like a time freeze, until mercifully his bungy cord twanged, and he took his first bob back skywards. A few seconds later and he did a second bounce, and then as he had been previously instructed, pulled the cord on the side of his leg harness, which then twists the person round so they are then facing the right way up so they can then be winched up to the platform again. The whole process of jumping over the edge to being winched back up only takes about 2 minutes or so, but let me tell you, when you are stood in that platform about to watch your dearly beloved do this massive, massive jump, it seemed like forever. As Lee re-emerged to up and over the platform once again, I could see by the look on his face that it must have been the biggest adrenalin rush imaginable. I asked him if he enjoyed it and he almost stuttered 'yeah it was good'. I knew it must have been every bit as terrifying as people had warned it would be, as his body language didn't quite tally with his words. I was just glad he had survived and was then overcome by how proud I was that he did something so scary. Lee said that at first when you are still in the dive like fall, it is pretty exciting, and then all of a sudden you are aware that you are in free fall, literally crashing towards the ground, knowing that there is only 2 foot of water in the river below you (which lets face it, wouldn't save a free-falling fish let alone a human), and for a few heart stopping seconds you are absolutely more terrified than you can imagine. He said he did actually scream at this point as he felt complete loss of control and pure fear, but said that as soon as you realise that is happening, you are suddenly being tugged in the opposite direction as the cord has reached its limit and you do your first bounce skywards again. He said it was instant relief to feel that pull in the other direction, even though the actual tug itself was a lot more of a strain on his body than he imagined it would be. We then stood and watched as the last few took their jumps, and watched helplessly as the poor 18 year old lad (tears streaming down his blotchy face) who was to jump last, went to jump, then stood back saying he couldn't do it 4 times, before he was eventually pushed on the final countdown from 5! So glad I didn't opt to do the jump! There was little time for Lee to sit and reflect on the enormity of what he had just done, as we were soon being re-harnessed for our tandem sky swing. I say sky swing - this isn't some nice child's play ground type swing that swings gently out, I'm talking a trapeze looking swing that you both get harnessed into. You can choose how you wish to be released over the canyon and 125metre drop. I told Lee I only felt brave enough to go forwards from a sitting position, but it is possible to be released from upside down, backwards etc. After being harnessed in we had to adopt a sitting type position, and then we were gently lifted from the platform about 2 metres out. We were told to lean back slightly and asked if we wanted to be counted down backwards from 5 or just be released not knowing when they would press the button. I opted for the suprise as I just couldn't take the big build up. Sure enough about 2 seconds later we were suddenly plummeting downwards and outwards in freefall. I remember screaming and laughing at the same time and then within a couple of seconds feeling relieved that we were now swinging gently towards the far mountainside instead of that stomach flipping, head spinning panic/adrenalin. Once the initial 'drop' is over and the swing, 'swings', its actually a really nice almost slo-mo type experience. It was strange and thrilling for me and I was so glad Lee was there holding my hand. Lee said it was more enjoyable than the bungy, although obviously a lot more tame by comparison. He said that value for money and also the enjoyment factor he would recommend sky diving over doing that bungy any day. I guess it was always going to be one of those once in a lifetime opportunities and I'm so proud he went through with it - I certainly know it will be something we will never forget. The bungy bus was soon heading back down the steep hill and back into Queenstown, and so we thought what better way to celebrate our big feat than by celebrating with a nice meal and some very well deserved drinks, so a nice Thai meal and a few vodka's and wines later, it was the perfect introduction for us to the awesome Queenstown.

We spent the next day in and around Queenstown. We headed up in a cable car to the Luge centre for some more titilating fun racing down the mountainside in the luge carts. Whilst we were in on the observation deck admiring the views of Queenstown, we decided that the paragliding and hang-gliding might be a great new extreme activity for us to try before we left, so we went and booked a hang-gliding session for Lee and a paragliding session for me for the next day. Later that afternoon, Lee left me to go back out into the hills for some more dirt-bike riding. His experience in Rotorua had left quite an impression on him and so I convinced him that he should take the opportunity to do it again as he had enjoyed it so much previously. This was to be a longer trip out than the one in Rotorua too and on purpose built trails in some hilly farmland. Lee was gone about 4 hours and said that he had a really great time once again, and was pleased that he felt that he had improved on his last ride. He said the trails were really good and the fact that he was out on the bike for longer was really good too. The only slight drawback was that this company didn't offer him the full clothes and body protection that the last trip did, so consequently he came back a bit muddy. It seems Lee really has found a new potential hobby that he really does enjoy, so anyone who thinks they might be interested too should get in touch with Lee when we get home!

The following day we were up early and waiting at our campsite Reception for the bus to come and pick us up for the hang-gliding and paragliding. We were both very aware that it had been once again raining all through the night, and there was heavy drizzle in the air in the morning and thick, low clouds around the mountains. A quick call to the company confirmed our suspicians that the weather at that time meant that we would not be able to go then, but that we should call back at 12 to get another weather update. We hung around killing time until midday arrived and we could call them. We were told that the bus would come along for us right away and that we would have to check the conditions once we were up the top of the mountain. We boarded the bus with another couple who were also hoping to do the hang-gliding, then drove a bit further to pick up the 3 hang-gliding instructors and 1 paragliding instructor. The weather at this time was still a bit drizzly and very misty/cloudy. We drove up the mountain and the instructors got out to make their decision. After much pondering nonone could make a definite descision, and so we were then driven further up the mountain to check the conditions there. It seemed obvious to us passengers (and by the looks on the instructors faces) that the weather was not looking favourable, and the sorry looking wind sock couldn't even bring itself to even half billow up or out in any direction. More pondering, and the trip driver relaying info back to base via walkie talkie (obviously wanting the jumps to go ahead so they didn't lose any money) but still the weather was not lifting. If anything it seemed to be getting worse, and by this stage I had blatantly heard one of the instructors saying it was too dangerous to jump! I said to Lee, if that lady tries to convince us to jump, we're not doing it. I felt that the jump was just not meant to be that day, and there would always be other opportunities at some other time and place. Lee agreed and said that if we had to lose the money then so be it. Eventually the inevitable happened and the lady agreed that it wasn't going to happen that day, so she then tried to convince us to wait around for the next day. I told her we had to leave town later that day as we had to at our next destination, and she finally got the picture and gave us our money back, so no drama's, but no jumping either.

From Queenstown we headed upwards up the west coast to the next big town, Wanaka. The next day on our way out of Wanaka, we stopped at Puzzling World, a fun centre which has the biggest maze in the world in the outside grounds, a tower that leans at even more of an angle than the tower of Pisa, and inside has all sorts of puzzles and fun/weird stuff you can get involved in. Lee and I certainly found it to be a pretty good place to stop and kill a few hours at.

Later that day we arrived at Fox Glacier, which is the name of the glacier for which it is famous, and also the name of the town itself. We booked a 4 hour guided heli-hike for the next day, a) because it was something we knew we had wanted to do before we came to NZ, and b) because it was going to be Valentines Day the next day, and we wanted to do something very memorable and this more than fitted the bill. We were up early the next day and took a short drive out to Lake Mattheson which is located in a conservation park near to the glacier and is another famous landmark whereby you can see the mirror image of the beautiful mountain landscape in the lake. Luckily the weather was clear and bright and we did indeed get a good reflection in the lake when we arrived at the look out point. From the lake we headed to the heli-hike glacier centre in preparation for our trip. Our group headed out in the old fashion coaches to the heli-pad where we received our short safety briefing, and exchanged our walking shoes for a pair of hardy mountian, ice/water resistant safety boots. We watched full of excitment as the first 2 groups headed up in groups of 6 in their respective helicopters up and into the mountains. Soon after we saw our helicopter approaching and prepared ourselves as the deafening machine landed infront of us. We were strapped in and airborne all within about 3 minutes. Lee sat in the front on the way out, and I sat in the back with 2 others. I had the biggest smile on my face as I was so excited and I just knew that Lee did too. The trip in the chopper only took about 8 minutes, but the pilot took us on a little thrill ride over the glacier and right up to the mountain edges. He took us over a massive ice cave and right alongside a waterfall and over the endless craggy ice mounds. It was interesting being flown over the other of the group who had already landed and disembarked, as it gave us an idea of the scale and perspective of the glacier. Once out of the helicopter, we were fixing crampons to our boots and grabbing an alpenstock (long, thick stick thing) ready for our 2 hour hike around some of the glacier. Our guide Jonathon took lead us to various crevaces and pointed out some really cool naturally formed things like ice bridges and moulins, which (from the french translation of windmill although I didn't get the resemblance) was like a big hole, almost flume like. We all decided to take Jonathon up on his advice and slide down the moulin 'and be like a penguin'. I think we all expected it to be smooth inside just like a flume ride, but had all nobbles of ice and pools of icey water to navigate through, so consequently we all squeezed ourselves out of the small opening at the other end, completely drenched and thinking 'why the hell did I just do that for?', but nonetheless, how often do you get to 'ride' such a unique natural phenomenon? Jonathon explained that the ice is so thick and compact and is constantly moving (at a rate of about 4 metres per day down the mountain), that the glacier landscape is literally constantly changing. This means that every time he gets to guide a group on the heli-hike, which is about once every 2 weeks, it is completely different from the last time. Each of the guides carries an ice-axe and they chop some improvised ice steps on the inside and around any difficult to navigate patches of ice. I found quite hard putting faith in the crampons we were wearing and getting used to placing all weight on the centre of your foot instead of putting your toes down first, but did manage to get around without too many problems. The glacier itself was incredible, just so unbelievably beautiful in a completely different kind of way, and so strange in places. The hike went so quickly as it was so enjoyable and we were soon all waiting on the flatter ice for the helicopter to come and pick us up again. Back at base, Lee and I both said that that was without the best trip/thing we have done in NZ by far, and it was even more special as it was Valentines Day. Back in the town at Fox Glacier we headed straight to the pub to celebrate our lovely day with some drinks and think about booking a table for a meal later that evening. We sat at a table outside and got chatting to a couple and their family who were over on holiday from Wales. The couple, Sue and John both had musical instruments with them on the table, and it wasn't long before we had convinced them to give us a taster, so Sue on the mandolin and John on his banjo, sitting outside in the sun, listening to their great music, we knew it was definitely going to be a valentines day never to forget. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with them and enjoyed many drinks and laughs with them.

The day after Lee and I woke with fuzzy heads and then headed out back up the highway to our next destination - the Franz Josef Glacier. It is located about 1/2 from Fox Glacier, and is the same sort of thing, and you can either do a heli-hike or guided walk to the terminal face and up the first part of it. We opted to walk as far to the terminal face as we could as we had been warned that the guided walks meant that you tramped for about 3 hours through forest, and were only on a small part of the ice for under an hour. It was pretty cool getting fairly close to the glacier and seeing it up close from that angle, so we took the opportunity to take loads of pics. We left Franz Josef after the walk and headed in the van further up the coast. We had previously heard some people say that the scenery along the west coast of the south island was pretty spectacula, but I don't think we were ready for what we saw. The landscapes and scenery are absolutely something else and utterly breath-taking. After what seemed like hours in the van, we eventually arrived in Nelson, a big town on the north of the south island. We were really deflated to find out there were no spaces at the campsite when we got there, but decided to book 'splash out' one of the really basic motel rooms and get some well deserved rest after the epic drive.

Lee and I spent a day in Nelson and then headed back for Picton again, where we then spent another couple of days catching up on boring everyday stuff before catching the ferry back across the Cook Straight back over to the north island. We checked in to a campsite just outside the main city area in Wellington, glad to have found somewhere based so near to the city centre so we could get in and out easily the next day which was Lee's birthday. Thursday just gone (19th) we headed into the city and spent the day shopping and enjoying a birthday drink or 2. We had a lovely birthday meal in the evening at a nice bar and then headed over to the theatre for an alternative 'cultural' evening. We had read about this particular performance in the local magazine and decided it sounded like a winner, so we got tickets for the Adam Page Solo show. It was billed as being the one man band show, his 15 musical instruments and musical vegetables! We took our seats not sure quite what to expect, but within less than a minute knew that it was going to be really enjoyable. Adam (an Aussie) basically starts off by playing a small tune on his sax, and then records the tune on his recording machine that then plays that tune again on a loop. He then picks up his next instrument, flute for example, and does the same - plays a short tune, then hits the record button and that plays that short tune on loop alongside with the previous one. He then goes through all of the instruments he has on stage with him, also improvising every now and then with bit of freestyle beat boxing or a few words, and it gradully builds up a really awesome tune. He then asked the audience to shout out 3 different music styles to him so he can then make up a new tune to. Various people shouted out different styles, and he said he'd go with 'punk', 'samba' and 'Chinese Opera'! A pretty weird mash up of styles but would add to the uniqueness of the tune he was to make up there and then. I think the whole audience thought he must be off his head if he thought it would work with those very contrasting styles, but sure enough, one instrument at a time, recorded on a loop and played with the next instrument, a bit of punk style shouting and guitars, and then some dodgy 'opera' style singing with lyrics such as "chicken chow mein", "pork wontons" etc and all of a sudden this really amazing tune was filling the theatre. The highlight of the show was all about his musical vegetables, and was the bit most of us were waiting for. Adam explained that he usually picks a vegetable or fruit most associated with the country or place he is performing at, so in this case it was to be a kumara (a NZ Maori hangi type, sweet potato), and sure enough drilled out a few holes into it, and then stuck a mouth piece into it and started playing it. It was a strange squeeky pitched kind of sound, but true enough, sounded pretty alright with his previously recorded tune of the evening. The show only lasted an hour or so, but its fair to say that this guy is seriously talented, so much so that Lee and I brought the DVD afterwards. We both really enjoyed the show and Lee said he had a really nice birthday, so all in all, a really great day and night.

We are both in Taupo currently and are waiting for a weather update to see if it might be possible for Lee to be able to get 1 final dirt-bike session in back in Rotorua before we leave NZ, or failing that we plan to go to the glo-worm caves in Waitomo before heading back to Auckland where we will be handing back the van (phew!) and then departing for Singapore on 25th Feb.

Til next time.....