Our ferry was due to leave Wellington for the South Island at 8am so we had an early start anyway but we were actually woken up by a very drunk guy in our dorm room. He was being really noisy trying to get down from his bunk bed and then I realised that he had made his way to the window and was trying to wee out of it! He was clearly very drunk and had no idea that he wasn't in the toilet but I quickly shouted and him and told him where the door was. I had to open it for him as he was having problems working the door handle. I later saw him stumbling around the corridor trying to find our room again!!

So, after such a lovely start to the day!, we caught the ferry to Picton. We met our new bus driver and drove through the Marlborough wine region, Nelson, Motueka, and stoppedin the Abel Tasman National Park. We opted for tent accommodation (to save a precious $10 each per night!) which quickly seemed like a bad idea when the sun went down. Thankfully it wasn't actually that cold and I'd borrowed some spare bedding from an empty dorm bed anyway so was rather snug! On the first night we had mussel tasting around the fire. We sampled the green-lipped mussel, which is specific to the area.

We did a 3 hour walk around the coast and then met our catamaran for an afternoon's sailing. We saw fur seals and explored some of the beautiful coves. We also went to 'split apple rock' which looks just like it sounds! The weather had improved since our walk in the morning and it was really beautiful. There were so few people around, so it felt like we were the only ones there.

The next day we headed to Barrytown. We stopped off at Westport seal colony and saw loads of seals playing in the surf and some native wiki birds. We also stopped at Pancake Rocks, which look like lots of stacks of pancakes because of the erosion of the sea. There is also a huge blowhole here but the tide was out so we didn't see it in action!

We arrived in Barrytown, which is barely even a village, with a population of 40. I met a man at the pub who had brought his large pet sheep with him (called 'Pizza'!). We were pointed in the direction of the fancy dress boxes and told that cross dressing was the theme of the pub night! Phil went for a granny style and I opted for a Hawaiian/moustache combination which was rather frighteningly realistic! We played drinking games and pretty much entertained ourselves seeing as there were no other people in the pub but our tour group!

The next afternoon we headed further down the west coast to Franz Josef, home to the glacier of the same name. It is 12 km long and together with the Fox Glacier 20 km to the south, it is unique in the fact that it descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres above sea level amidst rainforest.

We opted for a full-day glacier hike and were equipped with waterproofs, rigid walking boots, warm layers and crampons! We climbed up for a few hours and were still only a tiny fraction up it. The shape of the ice changes daily and the guides are up there at the crack of dawn to cut out steps in the steepest parts. We chose to go in the 'fast' group so it was quite a quick paced climb and we went through several crevasses, some of which were pretty tight. We were the first group to go through a brand new one which had just developed overnight - the ice is always moving and changing- and it was no wider than 12 inches. It was really hard to move because you had nothing to grip on, or push off and you were pressed up against cold, hard blocks of ice on either side. At one point, I had to ask Phil to push me because I was a bit stuck - perhaps we should have done it before the lunch break!! It was an amazing day though and one of our favourite experiences so far. It was so beautiful on the ice and it was pretty surreal having a packed lunch whilst sat on an enormous block of ice in a mountain valley. It was St Patricks Day but we left the drinking for the Irish and slept really well after 8 hours hiking/climbing.