Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glaicer, Greymouth, Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura

Ok, it really has been a while since last post. The drive down to Milford Sound was really worthwhile, tour of the Sound was really good, and one of the best trips we've had while away, after we drove back upto Queenstown for another nite. There was a rugby sevens competition on which was pretty good, goota see teams from both Islands, Auckland won it out I think in end (4th year in a row!)

From Queenstown, we stopped in Wanaka for one nite, went to this puzzle world place which has a big two-level outdoor maze, took us a while to get around it though. From there we went upto Glacier country and booked on a tour on the Franz Josef Glaicer. We took the 1/2 day trip, which was bout 4.5hrs in total and 2hrs hiking on the glaicer itself, to be honest it was enough for us, tired enough after just a half day of it (crampons were class though). In afternoon we drove down to the other glaicer, the Fox glaicer, to be honest I was more impressed by this one, mainly as you could get more of an idea of how it has moved though the valley over the last 200 years.

After glaciers,we travelled upto Greymouth, mainly to have some rest for a while so we booked into a hostel for two nites. Not a whole lot happening in this place, really old style buildings, best part was bakery around corner of hostel, which gave left-overs to hostel every-day at 4, loads of pies, and cream cakes.hostel had a free pool table as well, so made use of that!

From Greymouth, across to Hamner Springs for one nite, attraction here is the naturally heated thermal pools, about 16 of them and all different temperatures. Was a cold enough day when we visited so was really relaxing to sit in the pools, on average about 35C, hottest one was a sulphur pool at 40C which was too hot for one,a nd also stank!

E-mailing now from Kaikoura on East Coast of South Island, couple of hrs north of Christchurch, so we're zig-zagging across the South Island! Really nice coastal town. Lots of marine life here, went on a cliff-top walk for a couple of hrs other day, passing a seal colony and a big seagull colony. Weather has been really good here, apart from the wind, and has made seas very rough. Were hoping to go on a whale watching tour yesterday but was cancelled, hopefully today it'll go ahead, sea looks a bit calmer today.

So yeah, 1 more nite here, then upto Nelson for a nite and then Abel Tasman Park for ~ 3 nites. Our south island adventures are coming to an end, can't believe how fast the time is going!?!

Kevin