Hi Everyone Well we are here in the North Island now, but we wanted to finish off telling you about our last week in the South Island. Once we left Wanaka we drove North to the mountain ranges that includes Mount Cook. We had booked to stay in the 5* Youth Hostel, in a place called Franz Joseph. Which is famous for having one of the few Glaciers that is still advancing. That afternoon we walked to the face of the glacier. The following morning we were up bright and early to walk up the nearby Fox Glacier. We had a steep climb through rain forest and eventually turned onto the Glacier after walking up for what seemed like hours, and continued walking up the Glacier for some time. We also managed to go through an Ice Cave. Jude and I slept very well that night we were completely exhausted. The following day we got up early and started our drive across the country to Arthurs Pass.. This is a small alpine village with a pub, shop. Petrol pump and half a dozen houses. We stayed in a wonderful old wooden cabin just as you leave town - I managed to drive past it twice. The reason everyone goes to Arthurs Pass is for the elevation - it is the highest road through the Southern Alps about 920meters. There are some wonderful walks from the village and we did the Devils Punch Bowl and yes you guessed right another waterfall. Next to Kaikoura, famous for spotting Whales, Seals and Dolphins. We decided to do the Whale watching trip here and it was wonderful. We managed to see three local Whales who use this as there feeding grounds (for 40 years until they are old enough to mate). We were also lucky enough to see a visiting Humped Back Whale. There is not much to see as they feed deep down, come to the surface for 5-10 mins to get some fresh oxygen and then dive down for feeding again. They can be down for as long as 40 mins. We waited for ages for one to dive then they worked out he was asleep!! We visited the local area to see the Seals asleep that afternoon. Back in the car the next day driving North to Nelson. Jude decided to do a scenic route from her guide book, it added 3 hours to our trip. If we had stuck to the main road we could have done it in 15 mins. Nelson is a City and had loads people and things to do and see but as always time was limited. We drove further north to Abel Tasmin which is a scenic reserve. We caught a water taxi on a circular trip around the coast of the reserve - it was stunning. The sand is the most wonderful gold colour, which has been caused by the iron in the rocks rusting. Back in the car and off to Akaroa via Maruia Springs - great to get a private spa to ourselves and even better once we worked out how to cool the water down. We also tried the outdoor rock pools which was more like our temperature!! We continued our drive to Akaroa which took forever, arrived after dark and eventually found somewhere to stay as we were leaving town. We went out on a late evening sail, did a walk up the hills and found the Tree Crop Farm where we stopped for a couple of hours to amuse ourselves with the quotes left by visitors on the walls and even left around the garden. Wonderful place, we were glad we stumbled across it. We had our best meal out in the south Island in a place called Ma Masion The following day we were off out for our Swimming with the Dolphins. This was supposed to be the highlight of our South Island trip. Swimming with the rare Hector dolphins, we left on a small boat on the calmest of waters as we went further and further out the sea got rougher and rougher. I did not stay in the water very long, Jude stayed in longer than I. I never swam with any dolphins it was all I could do to stop me throwing up while in the water. Unfortunately I was less successful once I was back on the boat, but the people we went out with were also keen to return to land so we gave up very quickly. Not sure I will want to try that again!! We will post another post card in a few days showing you our short trip of the North Ireland before we head off to South America. Amazing we have done so much in such a short space of time. Love Fiona (Writer) & Jude (Editor)