Last Friday 25th we had a great drive from Blenheim to Nelson, exploring on foot some of the coast along the inlets of the Marlborough Sound on the way. On Saturday (26th) we set off very early in order to catch the water-taxi up the coast to Torrent Bay so that we could tramp back along the Abel Tasman Track. The walk took all day with one or two stops to take in the coastal scenery and have a swim. Its hard to drag ourselves away from this area but there's a lot more of the South Island to explore. So on Sunday (27th) we headed south towards Westport, stopping in the Buller Gorge to cross the longest swing bridge in N.Z. (we returned across the gorge on a tandem cable swing!) We're in mining country here - gold and coal - and we visited an old mining town and disused coal mine just north of Westport before enjoying a swim in the sea at our campsite for the night. On Monday (28th) we visited the seal colony at Tauranga Bay and then drove south along this spectacular coastline - The Punakaiki Coast. We explored a few tracks inland along the rivers and had lunch on a small headland overlooking the sea before reaching the Punakaiki Rocks (Pancake Rocks) so called because they look like stacks of pancakes! The rock formations here were very interesting with blow holes and surge pools created when caves have collapsed. We also saw a pod of Hector dolphins playing in the waves with a surfer. Our journey down the coast continued from Greymouth to Franz Joseph Glaciar on Tuesday, passing more old gold mining towns and beautiful lakes where we managed to spot some White Heron. Yesterday we did a fantastic guided day hike on the Franz Josef Glaciar. We had superb weather and great fun climbing up and over the crevasses wearing crampons and using ice axes! Today we are going to take a look at the Fox Glaciar before heading further south to Wanaka. We are really enjoying the Southern Alps.

Kia Ora