Hi all

We have just landed literally in Queenstown after doing a parasailing trip on Lake Wakatipu! We went 600 foot above Queenstown on the back of a boat with a parachute attached! Scary stuff & extremely high but it was really cool & the weather is gorgeous today.

Since our last blog from Wellington, we caught the South Island Ferry which took 3 hours & we finally stepped foot in the South Island - which is absolutely beautiful - the further south we go the better the views get!

On arrival in the South island we went to Hunter's winery, who export a lot of their produce to us in the UK, $2 got us a decent taste of about 7 different wines which was sweet!

Abel Tasmen National Park was our next stop, we stayed at Old Macdonald's farm which was right by Marahau beach which belongs to the park. We had a full day at the park & went on the Golden Bay trip, which started on the bus around the mountains & then a boat trip all around the bays of the park, on route we saw Hector Dolphins, Seals, Split Apple rock & lots of lagoons, the weather was really hot in the afternoon & the beaches were empty as it had rained in the morning.

We went cockel picking in low tide on the evening & we cooked them up & had them for dinner! Surprisingly nice despite their appearance!

Barrytown was next on the agenda & we set off early next morning. On the way we checked out the amazing Pancake Rocks, which have no exact explanation apparently as to why they are in wierd layers. We also checked out some blow-holes which were cool - the sea was really rough & the water gets blasted out of large holes in the rocks. We also got to see some more seals here too!

Barrytown is a very quiet place with a permanent population of around 40 people! Despite that the bar in the hostel is known as a wild place to party - which we found out as Happy Hour didn't start until everyone from our bus had dressed up in clothes they provided! The theme for the evening was guys as girls, girls as guys which was a right laugh! Bas Vegas is the only beer included in happy hour & since it was Barrytown's own brew we drank it for the night - nice to be fair!

After a stroll down to the Barrytown beach next morning, we headed for our next destination, Franz Josef. On the way we checked out Hokitika, a well known Green Stone producing town which was interesting as we got to see them carving the rock into jewellery. Bushman Pete's also provided some entertainment on route to Franz Josef, it was a wierd place, we were shown a video on hunting techniques which NZ used fairly recently to reduce the deer population, which were spoiling a lot of their landscapes. We were then introduced to a massive pig called Tuku who smelt terrible! They had 4 or 5 possums locked up which we fed & nasty eels - gross!

On reaching Franz Josef we were not disappointed, we stayed in wooden cabins with awesome views of the mountains surrounding the glacier. We spent the entire next day hiking up Franz Joseph Glacier, lots of walking involved - think we did around 7km, but it was well worth it, we put on crampons over our boots to grip the ice & our guide chiselled out ice steps for us leading us through caves & very narrow walls of gorgeous blue ice.

Next morning we headed for Makarora via Haast, which has a lot of landmarks named after a chap called Julian Von Haast (we think!) who named a lot of things after himself - modest chap! But even he couldn't name the Franz Josef Glacier after himself because it was too beautiful, so he named it after his emperor at the time. We past the Haast Pass, Bridge & Gates of Haast & the Mount Aspiring National Park, the landscape was really impressive. We stopped at Thunderhill Falls - another nice waterfall & skimmed stones over the Blue Pools, which are right in the middle of the mountains & have the clearest waters we've ever seen!

Our hostel in Makarora was one of the most scenic places we've stayed, snow capped mountains surrounded us as we stayed in triangular cabins for the night. We took a walk around the area & got fish & chips for dinner - luxury!

We left early yesterday morning to head for Queenstown, passing Lake Wanaka, fed by the longest river in NZ. We also passed Lake Hawea which was created by a melting glacier & both lakes are around 400 meters deep!

The AJ Hackett Bungy Centre was our first visit in Queenstown, an adrenaline pumping place with 3 types of bungy jumps & the first commercial bungy jumping centre in the world. We were shown a video of the origins of Bungy & then watched 3 trainee drivers from our bus jump off a 43m bridge into the river below! (Not as high as Gaz's jump but still brave lads!).

After checking into our hostel we all got ready for a great night out in Queenstown, which obviously included plenty of booze & a visit to The World Bar where we drank their famous Tea-pot cocktails!

Today we have been walking around Queenstown which is the prettiest city we've ever been in, we walked all aound the harbour of Lake Wakatipu & tried out their famous Ferg Burgers, which we can confirm are the biggest & best burgers ever & a must try!

Milford Sound is our next stop, leaving at 6:30am tomorrow so early night tonight. Our next blog will probably be from here again in just under a week, as we are doing a loop around the very bottom of the South island.

We hope Nan Lewis had a great birthday - pass our love on!

Speak soon, take care love Gaz & Hannah xxx