Hi guys, we've been pretty busy since the last journal entry so here's what we've been up to.

From Wellington we caught the ferry over to Picton on the South Island. We stopped here just for a night as there's not really much to do in Picton. However, the day we arrived we managed to fit in a boat trip around Queen Charlotte Sound and a game of Crazy Golf! The boat trip took us to some amazing scenery, lush green hills with (rich) people's houses nestled amongst them. The weather was lovely, chilly but really sunny. We were the only people on the trip so it was like we had chartered our very own boat! On the way back to Picton we saw a seal lounging in the sun which was really cute. Back in Picton we stopped for a quick game of Crazy Golf. Believe it or not I actually won the game by 5 points! Nobody was more shocked than me! Anyway, it's now one all in the Crazy Golf championships so the next match is the decider!

After Picton we travelled south to Kaikoura which is a small seaside town. On the way to Kaikoura on the coach we saw lots of seals on the rocks just outside town. This area is famous for it's marine life just off shore and our main reason for coming here was to do a whale watching tour, so we booked a trip for the next day. Although the day of the trip was lovely and sunny, it was also windy and the sea was really rough. We were warned about the sea conditions and took sea sickness tablets before we left. As soon as we left the harbour the boat was rocking up and down like a rollercoaster! I was really ill the whole time but Ben managed not to be sick and thought the whole thing was fun! Despite me being sick for 2 hours it was worth it as we got to see 2 sperm whales which were amazing. However, once we'd seen the whales I couldn't wait to get back on dry land!

After Kaikoura we travelled to Christchurch which is one of the main cities on the South Island. We spent a day sightseeing around the town. Then the following day we travelled on the TranzAlpine railway which is one of the top train journeys in the world. The journey takes you from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast through the Southern Alps. The mountain scenery was amazing but as we got closer to the west coast it started to rain so we were glad we were inside the cozy train! The best thing about our time spent in Christchurch was that we booked tickets to see the All Blacks play Canada on 16 June! We are so excited about it and can't believe we actually managed to get tickets! Awesome!

We have now been in Dunedin for the last 3 nights. Dunedin is the oldest city in New Zealand and was settled by the Scottish so is based on Edinburgh. The first day we arrived it was tipping down with rain and with the old gothic buildings of the city, it felt very gloomy - just like England! Anyway, we managed to do some "indoors" things like visit the settlers museum, Cadbury's world (yum!) and did a bus tour of the main sights including the steepest street in the world! The next day was cold but lovely and sunny again. We took a trip out to the Otago peninsular which has some fantastic wildlife. First we stopped at Lanarch Castle which is the only castle in the southern hemisphere. The best bit of the trip however, was the wildlife safari. Here we travelled on an eight wheel drive vehicle called an Argo which I can only describe as similar to a golf buggy with eight wheels and green! It was hilarious travelling down from the farm onto the beach over really steep, muddy tracks being bumped around in the back of the Argo! We also got to see some wildlife really close up. First we saw a fur seal colony which was amazing as we viewed them from a hide where they were so close we could have touched them. After that we went down another steep track to a beach where Yellow Eyed Penguins live. These Penguins are nearly extinct and the rarest in the world. The people who run the trip do lots of conservation work to try and save the Penguins which is really good. We viewed the Penguins from another hide and one was really close by.

Next, we move onto Te Anau where we are doing a trip to Milford Sound and then onto Queenstown. We'll update you again soon.