SUNDAY 10TH TO TUES 12TH JUNE Got into Franz at midday, watched Crash and then set off on a walk along the river bed and up this forest hill track to viewpoints of the sea on one side and the mountains/glacier on the other. The views were well worth the walk but since me and Kym are both numpties we ended up still out there in the pitch dark with no torch.Just about got back to the hostel for a well earned spa! It was up early doors the next day to do the full d...

SATURDAY 9TH JUNE 2007 Saturday night & what better activity to partake in but a brewery tour!!! Went to Monteiths brewery & it was actually pretty good. The guide was funny & we sampled all the brews after which he left us for 20minutes with the taps for us to drink as much as we could of our fave beer! mine was the pilsner & Gaz's was the shandy! haha - no it really was but it was 5% shandy to be fair so we'll let him off! Got drinkin with ed &...

FRIDAY 8TH JUNE 2007 Got dropped off in the pouring down rain & went to look at the pancake rocks which are stacks of rocks along a section of the coastline that look like heaps of pancakes. The walkway around them was nicely done - lots of greenery & the rocks themselves despite the weather were impressive, particularly the blowholes in them that sorayed the seawater in big shoots! Wasnt anything to do at night except try & keep warm 'cause it was s...

TUESDAY 5TH JUNE - THURSDAY 7TH JUNE 2007 Got bus to Nelson - took most of the day. Walked around the town which is your average centre except surrounded by green hills - bizaare!On the wednesday we went on a day trip to the Abel Tasman National Park. Got the coach to Marahau where the water taxi took us to Torrent Bay to start our trek. We walked through the national park all the way back to Marahau (4hour walk). The scenery was spectacular - forestry to the ri...

MONDAY 4TH JUNE 2007 Got bus to Kaikoura the next stop along heading north up the south island. Stopped on the way to a seal colony which was cool although they stank & got quite aggressive if you got too close. Was a bit unexpected as they were right up on the coastline & there were even some in the bushes in the car park. We then went to get ready for our dolphin swim. We were given wetsuits, hoods, gloves, snorkel & fins. I wasnt looking forward t...