10/8/9 Franz Josef to Wanaka We left Franz early to visit Lake Mathieson which is a mirror reflection if the wind is still so early morning is a good time to visit. On a good day there is a reflection of Mounts Cook and Tasman and you can get great photos. We walked 20 minutes to the viewing deck and there were a few ripples and some passing ducks slightly spoiling the perfect reflection but it was pretty near perfect. We all got lots of photos of the lake and a...

8/8/9 Lake Mahinapua to Franz Josef We left the Poo pub nursing hangovers after being wished a good onward trip by Les. The people in the next dorm to us had been kept awake through the night with phils mega snoring...he tried to say it was Liz, as if !!!! We called into the Bushmans centre near Pukekura for a visit to see the museum and animals there. Outside were two huge deer stags standing very close to the carpark so we got some great shots of them. The Bus...

7/8/9 Westport to Poo Pub Today's drive is the most spectacular of the trip down the West Coast of South Island. We were picked up for our quad biking by Jason our guide. We got kitted out in helmets and waterproofs and drove along some farm tracks until we reached specially made trails. we had great fun riding through deep sand, mud, creeks and going up and down steep slopes and tight turns. The ride was two hours long and was really good fun. We were covered i...

6/8/9 Nelson to Westport We were picked up with yet another new driver, Cameron, who will be our driver for the next week down the West coast into Queenstown. Several passengers weren't ready again and so we circled the town until they were...Cam made them sing karaoke of Queens "Don't Stop Me Now" as a forfeit!!! The song is played every morning to start the day when Cam is driveing. Our first stop was in a town called Richmond to get breakfast and lu...

4/8/9 Wellington to Nelson We joined another driver on the Kiwi bus called Smiley, who had an enormous grin which never seemed to go from his face...lovely. It was raining heavily when we pulled out of Wellington for the short journey to the port, to catch the ferry across the Cook Strait to the South island port of Picton. When we arrived at the port we checked our bags in and boarded . The ferries are retired cross channel ferries and we were transported back ...