I'm back in Christchurch now which means my journey around New Zealand has gone full circle, I've spent a whole month on the road traveling from hostel to hostel and I can't quite believe that I'll be going to South America next week. Where has the time gone? It's been a while since I last blogged so I've got to tell you all what I've been up to in the South Island.

It all started with Steve and I having a sad goodbye at Picton ferry terminal where we went our seperate ways as he got on the train back to Christchurch and I carried on on the bus to Nelson. It was pretty hard saying goodbye to Steve, I'd really enjoyed sharing all the amazing experiences of the North Island together and as nice as it is meeting new people I have to admit that it was even nicer just having someone there who knew you already (and didn't have to explain your life story so far to!). Anyway, after the farewells I made my way to Nelson, I was excited about going to Nelson because I had heard some really good things about it from all sorts of people. I decided to stay two nights there and I stayed in a hostel called "Accents on the Park". It was one of the nicest hostels, it had a great atmosphere, everyone was friendly and there was a fab bar/restaurant area downstairs that was really really cheap! Nelson didn't disappoint either, it too was one of the nicest places I had visited in New Zealand. I spent my first day in Abel Tasman national park where I walked from Marahau to Anchorage on a track that had unbelievable, picture perfect beaches on one side and dense rainforest on the other side and little me in the middle! The walk was supposed to take about 4 hours to do but I marched my way on through in about 3 hours which meant I had more time on the beach in Anchorage! I did a little sunbathing and took a dip in the icy cold sea, really refreshing after all that walking. We then caught a water taxi back to Kaiteriteri and then a bus back to Nelson - lots of good opportunities to have a nap! After a good nights sleep I got up early to have a look around the famous Nelson weekend markets. I really enjoyed this, I just love the markets in New Zealand and Australia! This one had everything as well, from food, clothes, crafts, plants, antiques...I of course had to sample some of the food and I had some gorgeous homemade fudge! The rest of my day was simply spent in the park, in the sunshine, reading my book.

After leaving Nelson we had a really long journey on the bus to the town of Greymouth. On the way we stopped at the Punakaiki Pancake rocks which looked suspiciusly like they had been stolen from Northern Island - they were nearly identical to the Giant's Causeway! That night in Greymouth was uneventful and I realized it was only meant as an overnight stop off point as there is absolutely nothing to do there!

Thankfully our next stop in Franz Josef was much more exciting! Franz Josef is an alpine village which has an amazing glacier that is accesible to general public. I did the half day glacier hike where you go about half way up the glacier. They basically provided all the kit for us - coat, gloves, hat, boots, crampons and we got kitted up in the centre before we left. The climb up on the ice was the best part, we had to dig in our crampons to stop us from slipping about the place and some places the guide had to carve steps out of the ice for us. It was only a few degrees cooler on the ice and it was creaking and cracking and falling as we made our way up it. Once we got to the top part we managed to stop and have a snack, it was quite surreal eating sandwiches on the top of a glacier! I don't think I'll be experiencing anything like that again in a long time!

After the adventure of Franz Josef I spent a couple of days in the quiet little town of Wanaka. It was absolutley stunning there, the lake and being surrounded by mountains everywhere you look was breathtaking. There's not a lot to do in Wanaka as I think it's mainly a tourist village for when the skiing season takes off but I did manage to find a few things to do. First I went to Puzzling World! Puzzling World had a 3-D Maze and Optical Illusions room which were fun to wander round. I think I got lost in the maze for about an hour. My favourite optical illision was probably the hobbit room that they used in Lord of the Rings - it made you look tiny or massive depending where you stood in the room. Very weird! I also went down to the Paridiso cinema - not just a normal cinema! My Lonely Planet guide book had said that the cinema was one of the must see things in Wanaka so I had to see it! It was a very cool, old style cinema, with an intermission in the middle of the film, seating was old sofas and chairs and there was even homemade cookies on offer.

Queenstown was next on the agenda - I thought it was going to be a big city but actually only consisted of about four streets! On one of my free days I took a day trip out to Milford Sound fiord, a really really famous place to visit if you're in New Zealand. We went past some incredible scenery, the mist on the mountains made everything seem spooky, you can definately see how it is the perfect setting for an epic like Lord of the Rings - it's like another mythical world up there. The cruise through the fiord can only be describe in one word - miserable! The weather was awful, I tried to make the most of the surroundings by standing on the top deck but couldn't face the wind and cold for long.

The whole miserable, cold weather theme continued as I traveled onto Dunedin - The Edinburgh of New Zealand - it was so cold when we arrived that I had socks on for the first time in months! But it wasn't all bad as I went to the Cadbury's chocolate factory for the afternoon. I managed to bag lots of free samples and it was really good fun - made me think that maybe I should have a career change..chocolate taster. The finale of the factory tour was a huge chocolate fountain which splashed us all with yummy choc!

Lake Tekapo was my next stop on the Magic bus trail. There is a lovely church here called the Church of the Good Shepherd, it's perched on the edge of the lake with mountains in the background. There had been a wedding there that morning and I thought it was a perfect spot - idyllic! We then made our way back to Christchurch, my final stop. I went to the Antartica centre on the outskirts of the city. It was a fascinating place and I learnt so much. They also had a room which simulated blizzard conditions, the temperature went down to -8 with a wind chill of -18 and speed of 30 mph - it was bloody freezing! There were also some little blue penguins there that had been rescued for all sorts of reasons. My favourite one was Elvis, he was blind after being hit in the back of the head by a boat, I loved him! He was so sweet, I got a bit emotional watching them all actually, they were a motely crew, with broken wings and missing feet.

Now I'm back in Christchurch and have a week before I go to South America, the last part of my round the world extravaganza. I'm just going to use this week to take stock of everything and think about South America. I can't believe I will be back home in a matter of months!