So we're happy to report that we were totally wrong about the weather in the South Island. Although apparently we have hit more freak weather - but this time an unseasonably warm winter, so we're not complaining at all. The sun managed to pull some great days out of the bag, not least the two we spent walking, sorry 'tramping' the Abel Tasman Track - fantastic beaches and sea views. We did most of the track through two days of hard 15 miles walking, but we managed to find some great beaches to chill out on along the way, employing the 'feet in the air' resting pose that we picked up at the Grand Canyon - it really works! Something to do with draining the bad stuff out of your muscles. So to counteract that we got stuck in to a bottle of red with our picnic lunch! We stayed in one of the DOC (like National Park) huts which was basic but pretty cool, as it was chilly out at night, and had a hot supper from our flask - the height of civilisation! Other highlights from the south include our trip to Franz Joseph glacier. We'd stopped by in Christchurch to pick up Mike and he kept us company for the week. The glacier was pretty amazing although as usual the guided walk wasn't quite hard-core enough for us as we had to keep stopping while the guide cut more steps. Further south and we crossed the mountains to check out Milford Sound - it was dismal weather, grey and raining constantly. Apparently this is also good in Milford Sound as you get to see the hundreds of ephemeral waterfalls as the rainfall cascades down the sheer rock wall - dramatic, but darn wet, and nearly bust our camera! More chilling at Mike's folks vineyard and we were due to leave... So long New Zealand, til next time...