West Coast 6th - 11th October We took the Kiwi Experience all the way down the West coast and had a brilliant time, as we had an entertaining (but not annoying) crowd and a top driver, Jarrad.  Our first stop was lake Rotoiti, in the Nelson Lakes National Park, which was stunning in the much improved weather.  Two crazy people even jumped in for a swim - but didn't last long!  Our first overnight stop was Westport, not a very pretty sight!  However we did like the black sand beach, where we became artistic as you can see!The next day we headed further south, stopping to see a seal colony at Cape Foulwind and also the pancake rocks and blowholes.  We also made a very important stop off at grey Greymouth for bin bags, for the compulsory fancy dress party that evening.  Our overnight stop was at Lake Mahinapua, at a hostel/pub in the middle of nowhere.  As you can see from the pictures, it was an eventful evening with some hilarious and outrageous costumes!The next day we visited the Bushman Centre, an odd museum devoted to pest control of all the introduced species, including deer pouncing from choppers!  After a few stops and a pleasant drive, we arrived at the town of Franz Josef in the afternoon, our base for our day long hike on the Franz Josef glacier the next day.The Glacier Hike has to be one of the highlights of our trip so far.  We were guided in a small group up the near vertical terminal face of the glacier up purpose cut steps, wearing spiked crampons for grip.  The clean blue ice at the top was well worth the climb as we slipped through a maze of crevasses and water carved tunnels.  We even had 4 seasons in one day - rain, sleet, hail, snow and even sun!  By the end of the day, we were absolutely shattered and we were fast asleep before the sun even went down!Our next day down the coast was by far the most scenic.  We started out at Lake Matheson, where we attempted to get a perfect reflection of Mt Cook, but the ripples on the surface squandered our chances.  The road followed the picturesque Haast river and cascading falls down the valley sides, climaxing with the expansive Lake Wanaka and Hawea, with a stunning backdrop of snow capped mountains.  We stayed the night in the quaint ski village of Wanaka and even got some luxury at backpacker prices, staying in the Wanaka Hotel!The last leg of the West Coast journey took us into Queenstown - The adventure capital of the world.  But before leaving Wanaka we paid a visit to Puzzling World, where we had fun mastering the giant maze and feeling seasick in the bizarre tilted room!  We finished up having some photographic fun propping up The Leaning Tower of Wanaka!  Before entering Queenstown, we were taken to the original commercial Bungy site at the Karawau Suspension Bridge, where we enjoyed watching people hurling themselves off and getting their heads dunked in the icy cold river below!  Last stop before Queenstown was Arrowtown for lunch, another of those Lord of The Rings film-sets.  When we finally arrived in Queenstown we had a group photo with a backdrop of The Remarkables mountain range.