6 weeks later and we have successfully circumnavigated the whole of NZ. There are very few pages left in the map book of NZ that we have not travelled through - a fact of which we are inordinately proud! The ferry trip to the South Island was stunning, arriving in the Marlborough Sounds in the northern fiordlands. The weather let us down again the next day as we walked a section of the Queen Charlotte Track, high on the ridges above the fiords. Then we headed up to the Abel Tasman NP where Janet set herself up for her first ever real backpacking trip. We did the 51km coastal track camping by beautiful sandy beaches each night. On the 2nd day we had to rise at 5.00am to cross a river at low tide so we could make it to our kayaks which we met on a remote beach. The 2nd day was spent sea kayaking the middle section of the trail. A great adventure. Camping down the west coast was painful due to the maddening sand flies. They were truly evil. Reaching the glacier region we did some great walks to visit the 2 main glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox, which travel down from Mount Tasman. A guided walk onto the Fox glacier was fun but a bit slow and we wished we could have got our own crampons and explored the ice ourselves. In the same region we also kayaked on a mountain lake with views over to Mount Cook. A couple of days resting on the shores of lake Wanaka got our energy back for more mountain exploration. A hike up the Rob Roy valley gave us more great glacier and waterfalls to sit and wonder at. Janet had to cross a very long swing bridge and was very brave as Ben and i threatend to swing her into the gorge. Milford Sound was our next destination where the obligatory boat cruise allowed us to marvel at they towering peaks rising from the fiord. Unfortunately the weather once again let us down as the clouds swept in the entrance of the fiord and covered the mountains . Great views of seals and dolphins were once again seen from the boat. A tour of the Catlins region in the far south was pleasant but i think we had been spoilt by much more impressive scenery. But the wildlife was amazing as we ticked off hectors dolphin, penguins, and sea lions. At Dunedin we paid a visit to the Royal albatross colony to get fab views of these massive birds. The B52 of the bird world. Kaikoura gave us our chance to go whale watching, the first since our trip to America in 1999. This time we searched for Sperm whales. Thankfully Janet had the magic tablets which kept the sea sickness away as the trip was rough as! But we saw the whales and even better a pod of about 500 Dusky dolphins. Yes 500! Their acrobatics wowed the crowd on the boat and we all went home wobbly but happy. With a week left to go we all hankered for the mountains again so we headed back across the island to the Alps again. We drove straight into the worst weather of the trip and saw nothing for 2 days. Finally the weather cleared and Ben and I made an accent of Avalanche peak in Arthur's Pass. Topping out was fab, made more so by the friendly Keas, a mountain parrot, that dive bombed us as we tried to take our photos. This was definitely my fave bird of NZ. In Christchurch we had to say goodbye to Ben, after 6 weeks of travel together. A great traveller and a mean scrabble player. Many a night was spent in the car, in the middle of nowhere, hiding from sand flies trying to thrash Ben at Scrabble.We saw his competitive side!!! Christchurch allowed us to become civilised again with great nights out at the flicks and eating with a proper plate, a great way to end our 6 weeks in the wilds of NZ. And it was wild. You will have seen that at one point i was nearly eaten by a boulder straight out of Doctor Who. It was a close call but i lived to tell the tale.