So, the day after Kav's sky dive we headed down towards Wellington to get the ferry across to the South Island and after driving for most of the day we finally reached our caravan park at 6pm which was near the ferry port. We were due to get the ferry at 8.20am and so spend the evening in our cabin which actually resembled a prison cell. I'm not kidding, it was tiny and we had bunk beds and white concrete walls and that's about it. In fact the only thing missing were steel bars on the windows!

The next morning we boarded the ferry which takes around 3 hours to get to the South Island and passed the time away by playing ludo and reading. And it wasn't long before we had left the ferry in our car and were heading towards the Abel Tasman National Park.

It's absolutely amazing what a contrast there is between the North and South Islands. The South Island is a lot less developed and there just seems to be a more mellow and slower way of life. We love this and so immediately grew to like the South Island more than the North. Soon we were at Marahou - an absolutely gorgeous tiny village which is the launch pad for the Abel Tasman National Park. I say village but technically it's not because it only has a few places of accomodation for people doing walks and kayaking and a little convenience shop. We had a little cabin for a couple of nights which was a relief after the prison cell we'd been in the night before.

Most people go to the Abel Tasman park to kayak or walk around the coastline and camp over-night. We decided to do a day walk around the most scenic part of the park on the coastline. So the next morning we were picked up and dropped off by speed boat at the start of the track to start our walk, well actually hike, for 5 hours!!

This is how it went - we boarded the speed boat in the morning in the middle of the street and were taken to the boat launch by tractor before being let go into the sea. The speed boat then whizzed round to a small bay and we got to see the famous "Split Apple Rock" before heading towards our drop-off point. On the way we spotted some fur seals before pulling up to the beach for us to disembark for our walk.

The walk itself was very challenging in parts with a lot of hills to walk up but the view when we got to the top of them were amazing. Beautiful beaches, blue lagoons and lush forest made the walk thoroughly enjoyable. By the time we had reached our pick-up point we were knackered and as we were early we had an enjoyable couple of hours on the beach. I should also tell you that one of the amazing things about this area are the tides! During low tide you can actually walk most of it on the low tide paths around the beaches, but at high tide you walk up into the hills so it's a bit more difficult. When we got our boat again, it was low tide so we had to walk around 300/400 meters on sand where the sea was earlier to board and we were still only knee deep in water!

We were sad to leave Marahou on Sunday, we loved our cabin and the little village but we were on our way to Glacier country. This area is made up of the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and is a World Heritage site (I swear, most of Australia and NZ is owned by them!). Before that we took a little detour to see the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes as we had a little time and Lonely Planet said it was quite awesome.

The Pancake Rocks were formed 30 million years ago from minute fragments of dead marine creatures and plants that landed on the seabed about 2 km below the surface. Immense water pressure caused the fragments to solidify in hard and soft layers. Gradually seismic action lifted the limestone above the seabed. Mildly acidic rain, wind and seawater sculpted the bizarre shapes to look like layers of Pancakes. During high tide sea crashes into this rocks and the sea water blows out through the gaps in the rocks. You realise the power of mother nature when you look at something like this. First of all the power of the waves is unbelievable, add to that the huge roar as well and you really feels so tiny and insignificant compared to it all.

After this spectacular show of nature we retired to a near by town for the night to head to the Glaciers the next morning.

Well, we were a little disappointed when we got there. I'm sure if you took a tour on to the glaciers you'd appreciate them more, but we didn't want to spend a fortune just to look at some ice! So we did the walk as far as you could go without a guide and then went back to our car. I thought they would be a lot bigger and more spectacular, but to me it just looked like a bit of ice on a mountain. Sorry if I'm doing them an injustice but I just couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Plus, after having worked my legs and bum hard the day before I had to walk uphill again for an hour to see this mountain (excuse the pun) of rubbish! I think glaciers look pretty in snowy environments but at the end of summer when they are a bit grubby and looking sorry for themselves it's not a great day out. But like we've said a few times on this trip "At least we've seen and done it".

The next day we drove south to Wanaka on our way to Queenstown. On the way I was reading up on the area in Lonely Planet and found something a bit fun for us to do seeing as we'd been on a huge hike and then had a dissapointing glacier viewing day. It's called Puzzling World and it's great! It's a building dedicated to puzzles and in the foyer has 10 or so tables with lots of puzzles to solve and drive you crazy. You know the ones, like wooden cubes spllit into 7 pieces and you have to put them back together or separating 3 steel rings, that kind of thing. Then there are 3 illusion rooms which are awesome (I just tried to describe them but it wouldnt make sense so I deleted it!) and a 3D maze outside. The maze is like any other maze with a coloured hut in each of the 4 corners and with stairs in the middle to take you from one end to the other which makes it even more complicated. Kav and split up and had a race to see who could find each of the huts in a specific order and find the exit. I was winning by finding 2 huts when Kav hadnt found the first one, then suddenly he knew what he was doing and raced around and eventually won - so frustrating!! It took around an hour and half and was a real giggle!

Wanaka is a beautiful town right on Lake Wanaka in the Mount Aspiring National Park (spending a lot of time in National Park's aren't we?!!). Because there is skiing in the park during winter months the town has a very alpine feel to it and it lovely and chilled. While we were there we did the toughest hike we've done so far up Rocky Mountain. The story goes like this... Kav had read about the Rob Roy track, a "fairly easy 2 hour return walk" in the park that he thought would be nice to do, however, part of the drive went through quite deep streams and because we have a rental car with minimal insurance we didn't want to take the chance of something going wrong, so we turned around to look for another walk to do instead. Big mouth Sal pointed out a parking spot which I assumed had a walk attached to it so we got out and checked it out. I wasn't really in the mood but I knew Kav really wanted to do a walk that day. There was a 2 hour return walk half way up 'Rocky Mountain' to get great views of Lake Wanaka or there was a 3.5hour return walk to the top. I was satisfied just doing the walk to see the views of the Lake but no, Kav wanted to tackle the whole sodding thing didn't he! That's the downside of going out with an ex-fitness trainer (wouldn't tell from the recent photos would you, hee hee. I rub his Buddha belly at night for luck!). To keep the peace I said "OK, let's go" thinking I could 'make a wrong turn' or persuade him to just do the shorted one but no such luck. The walk began hard and very uphill and I was out of breath before we turned the first corner but I kept going. As much as I moan and whine during these walks I think I secretly like them and I feel great afterwards. We got to a fun bit as the path went through some wooded areas and had lots of old wooden steps and the views just kept getting better and better, and then came the dreaded signpost where we could turn left to continue to the top, or turn right to get to the viewpoint for the Lake. No prizes for guessing which way we went!! I had a little moan and then kept going, thinking it really couldn't be that much further as I looked up. Little did I know I was looking up at the wrong peak because after 10 minutes we were on the other side of the 'hill' as they call it (yeah right!) and saw the mountain we were about to climb. I had suddenly had enough and sat on the ground in a grump and yelled that I was done and not going any further. 10 minutes of back and forth arguing I was up on my feet again tackling the biggest thing I've ever seen. 40 minutes later, with a pulse as quick as a jackhammer, a beetroot for a head and in an incredibly bad mood I reached the top and felt instant elation and satisfaction. I'd done it, not without gripes and tears mind, but I'd done it and I was very proud. Not only am I doing these things and seeing beautiful sights and ticking things off my list of things to do, I'm learning that I can actually do them. I'm pushing past limits I thought I had and for that I'm eternally grateful to Kav (and Daddy) so thank you both. X

After this walk we heading back to our cabin to have some dinner and then we were heading to a quirky little cinema called Cinema Paradiso in the town. It's famous for a few things and it didn't dissapoint. It probably only holds around 60 people and has old sofas for seats, and an old VW Beetle in case you want to feel you are at a drive in movie! There is also a little cafe come restaurant attached to it so we turned up a little early to have a glass of wine and we also checked our emails on a PC they have in there too. Because it's so popular people turn up early to get tickets and to get in line to grab the best seats and the tension is palpable, it's hilarious! We were third in line so we managed to bag a great leather sofa to snuggle up on and watch the movie, Gran Torino. To be honest, we weren't there for the movie but for the experience, but we ended up loving the movie and really recommend it. I thought it was much better than Million Dollar Baby in fact. Anyway, another quirky aspect to this little cinema is that in every movie it has an intermission. Time to go to the loo or get a drink, but the most famous thing is that they bake cookies while the movie is on and everyone rushes out at intermission to buy their half-time cookie. They are delicious, my favourite being the ginger and white chocolate. If you're ever in Wanaka which I highly recommend then make sure you go to Cinema Paradiso!

The next day we drove down to Queenstown. Again, Queenstown has a gorgeous alpine feel to it and we knew instantly that we were going to like it there. It's actually a lot smaller than you would think and it very friendly and beautiful. The weather was really good to which made a big difference. First timers in Queenstown have to do the gondola ride up to the top of the mountain to get a good view of the town. It's a bit weird being in a gondola without skis and snow surrounding you but it was a fun ride up. At the top you can walk around on the deck to take in the views, do a bungy jump, run off the mountain in a paraglider, do an hour walk around the top or do a luge ride which is exactly what we did!! It's like go karting but without the engine and you just pull up on the handlebars to slow down and brake and you go down a wicked winding track. Plus there is a chairlift which takes you up to the start. I won, although technically it wasnt a race because I started before Kav, but we had a real giggle. After that we had another round of crazy golf. This one was different from the one before because it had mechanical parts which moved during play and carried your ball up miniture mountains etc. We took great photos and videoclips and to cut a long story short I won, again!!

The next day we headed to Te Anau which is at the bottom of the Milford Highway which takes you to the Milford Sound. According to a lot of books and list it's the top thing to do in New Zealand. In fact Rudyard Kipling had once described it as the eighth Wonder of the World and who am to disagree? And to be honest none of this can describe the sheer magnitude and presence of it. It's within the Fjordlands in the south west of New Zealand and is a World Heritage site (another one!). We were in complete awe of it and lost count of the times we said "wow". You can't help simply looking around and feeling that you are somewhere special and how small you feel compared to it, and the stunning waterfalls that you pass look like a scene out of a fantasy Hollywood blockbuster. Our cruise on a small boat was very enjoyable, albeit freezing cold when on deck, and the captain got very close to the waterfalls - practically underneath one of them! Definitely something I would recommend seeing.

On Sunday we took a drive back west to see Mt Cook which was quite a spectacular drive, unfortunately though the weather was so bad with high winds and thick mist and fog that when we got there we couldn't get out and see anything so we headed back east and stopped in a little town called Geraldine to bed down for the night. So far on our trip we've stayed in caravan parks, hotels, motels, hostels, hell even jail cells, and now we can add B&B to the list! We were looking for somewhere cheap to stay but the motels were charging too much and then we happened across a little B&B with a sign outside advertising doubles for $65, around 25 pounds, which we jumped at! We had our own little private garage conversion which had more flowery patterns in it than is really necessary and the most comfortable bed, but most of all we had a lovely and friendly host, a 50ish woman who lived on her own and ran this cute little B&B. We were her only guests that night so got royal treatment and a wonderful breakfast the next morning. We had homemade cranberry muffins, fresh fruit salad, yoghurt, toast with homemade jams and she even gave us a huge thermos that a previous guest had left. I'm very happy about this because I love my tea and usually have cravings after lunch for the whole afternoon! But this breakfast was the best we've had in 3 months and it felt like we were back home so we left with very big smiles on our faces!

And that pretty much takes us up to today, in Christchurch. It's not the best city I've ever been to but has some sort of charm and today we went up another gondola (not a patch on Queenstown's!) and took a tram ride around the inner city to get our barings. Tomorrow is very exciting as we're taking the Trans Alpine Railway from here to Greymouth which is the opposite side of the island and back again and it's meant to be incredible.

We're nearly half way through the trip now and really looking forward to chilling on beaches for a couple of weeks in Fiji and Hawaii as doing stuff and driving everyday gets pretty tiring!

Love to you all. Miss you all very much,
Sally xxx