Left Wellington the next day to get the ferry to the South Island. The ferry was delayed (not too sure why, probably don't want to know) so got it at 10.30am and it took just over 3 hours! Was a really good crossing though, apparently it's known for being quite rough but it wasn't for us...even saw dolphins playing in the waves next to the boat which was awesome, first time we've ever seen them. So got to Nelson in the afternoon, weather was a bit rubbish and rainy but it didn't matter too much. The south island is known for being a bit more tropical but it doesn't really matter. Nelson is pretty nice, quite small! Our hostel is an old hotel though so is pretty nice, ensuite in this one which was nice as we were staying for two nights. Had a nice meal as well in the pub attached to the hostel (as you can tell, we're getting a little lazy with the whole cooking for ourselves thing now, the meals are discounted so it doesn't really matter price wise). The next day we just rented a few films and watched them in Steve's hotel room (his parents are funding him to stay in a few hotels to try and recover properly, his glangela fever is taking it's toll recently!). Weather was a bit rainy again but it was good to have a couple of lazy days not spending much money. That night we had a bit of a scare, as we came back quite late to find our keys not working in the door. So we contemplated sleeping in the TV room which was always open, luckily though a couple of girls staying on our floor came by and let us in that door, and even more luckily there was someone staying in our room as well (who had arrived that day) and unfortunately we had to wake him up to get in, but saved spending the night on a sofa!

The next day we left at 8.30am (we've got used to not having many lie-ins now, so it's not too bad) for Westport. The drive down the West coast is AWESOME, completely different to the north island as well which is strange. Along the way we stopped to go jetboating, about 20 people in a boat along one of the rivers which was really good fun...and we got SOAKED. We went for about 20 mins upstream, saw a couple of waterfalls, then charged back down at 60mph swerving and doing spins that got us soaked! Then headed to the hostel in Westport after then. Was nice having a 3 share room as usually it's about 6 or 8! So we played monopoly (which we bought in Nelson for our rainy days!). There isn't much in Westport so most people only stayed for one night as we did.