It's been a while since the last blog mainly due to the lack of wifi and the amount of travelling we have been doing over the last few days.

We left Wellington on Friday and crossed the Cook Strait to the South Island. The weather was ridiculously wet and windy and the ferry crossing wasn't as smooth as we would have liked. The ferry company called it a moderate wind so I would hate to see what a storm force wind was. Anyways, we made it to the South Island and were greeted by more wind and rain as we boarded the kiwi experience bus in Picton. After driving for a couple of hours, we made it to our destination of Kaiteriteri to be greeted by sunshine and a pleasant beach. Being the beach bums that we are (Beth particularly), we immediately donned our shorts and were straight in the sea. It was a bit cold and getting a bit late so we weren't in too long but it was nice to feel the sun on our backs again. On Friday night we decided to get the fish an chips from the hostel which were only 5 dollars if you bought 10 dollars worth of alcohol. Sensing a deal, we quickly spent 10 dollars each, then another and another!!!

On Saturday we were on the move again destined for Westport which is one of the larger towns on the west coast. The drive was about 5 hours but the scenery down the coast is immense and some of the best we have seen on our travels so far. We altered between staring out the window at the scenery and catching up on some sleep on the way to Westport. We stayed in a pretty cool hostel called Basil's hostel which had a couple of kittens which the owner got everyone to look after. After making pasta for our tea whilst fighting to use the kitchen, we settled down with a bottle of wine each and watched the first Lord of the Rings. It was good to have a pretty quiet night and relax with a film.

Sunday saw us on the move again when we left Westport for Franz Josef. About 10 minutes out of Westport, we stopped to do an hour long walk along the coast. The walk would normally be really nice but the heavens decided to open and we all got absolutely soaked. Me and my brother both had shorts and flip flops on which turned out not to be a good idea. Particularly when his broke halfway along and he had to walk barefoot to the bus!!! It was still a nice walk though and we managed to see quite a few seals chilling out on the rocks. We then stopped another hour later to see some pancake shaped rocks which were pretty good before we another stop in a town called Greymouth where my brother managed to get some replacement flip flops. We made it to Franz Josef at around 5pm an once again the heavens decided to open. This was proper rain and we got soaked just walking from the bus into the reception at the hostel. We are staying in a log cabin with 3 other people and the hostel even has its own hot tub which we managed to use whilst the rain lashed down.

Last night, we decided to try out the hostel bar and came to the conclusion that its pretty good. Beth was feeling a but dodgy so she didn't have too much to drink but me and my brother managed to put quite a bit away before we went to bed at about 12.30 before he rolled in at 2.

We were up late this morning after trying to sleep off our hangover and preparing for our glacier walk which was at 11.40am. After breakfast, we got our stuff together and went up the tour companies office excited for our trip. It was the first time all three of us had been in a helicopter which was exciting in itself. The flight was about 5 minutes and the scenery was amazing. Landing on the glacier was surreal and an experience we will never forget. We had all the equipment on, including crampons, which helped us to avoid any accidents. It's hard to put into words the feeling of walking on a glacier but I would advise anyone with a chance to do it to do so. It was brilliant walking in tunnels, caves and up and down the glacier whilst water was trickling around everywhere. It's definitely something we will never forget. After the helicopter flight back to town, we then went to the hot pools which consists of three pools of different temperatures. It was good for half an hour but we quickly got bored and are now looking forward to pizza fest which the hostel is having tonight. Apparently it's all you can eat pizza but I'm not so sure they have taken into account our ridiculous appetites. We shall see!!