The drive down from Fox Glacier to Queenstown was amazing. The clouds had lifted and we could actually see some of the mountains that had been hiding behind. The road twisted and turned, up and down hills, through valleys, by serene lakes and passed waterfalls...absolutely beautiful and so refreshing after the rain of the last few days. However, upon trying to get out of the car to have a picnic lunch we were almost eaten alive by sandflies so decided the view...

More weather woes made us worry a little with whether or not a trip to Fox Glacier would be worth it. Most of the high peaks from Punakaiki down to Fox were completely covered in cloud. We had heard that the best day of the week was meant to be the Wednesday so we decided to stop and book a place on the half day hike up the glacier. We didn't regret it! On the morning of the hike there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The first part of the walk was up through the side...

Today we woke up to find ourselves in the middle of a torrential rain storm! Luckily our tent appeared to still be waterproof despite its bargainous price. We got pretty wet while dismantling it though, and bundled ourselves into the car for the drive South. It continued to rain heavily for the rest of the day, and a think layer of low lying cloud covered the sea and mountain ranges. It was such a shame as the views over the West Coast are supposed to be amaz...

On drive south from Marlborough Sounds we stopped off in Nelson. We didn't really know much about the place before we arrived and we weren't overly impressed to be honest. We found a nice campsite which, like many of the others we've stayed at, claim to be a few hundred metres walk from the city centre and turn out to be a good few kilometres away! Still, at least we have our car now so its much easier to get supplies etc. On the evening of our arrival we dec...

We left the North Island today and travelled to Picton on the Inter-Islander Ferry. The crossing was really smooth and the scenery coming into Picton was amazing! The first thing we did was to collect our hire-car; a 1994 model Nissan Sunny, in light brown... classic. "Sunny" then took us to our overnight stop-off in Okiwi Bay, located in the heart of Marlborough Sounds. The landscape of this region is fantastic, the height of the fjords and the thickne...