Hi guys,

Right well we have covered a lot of ground in the last few days, but first off let's start were we left you. My birthday dinner was lovely we went to a restaurant called Pier 19 in Queenstown I had calamari to start (standard) and the fish of the day not the fish platter (but the people next to us had that and it did look amazing) while Katie had Seafood dumpling soup and fresh crayfish with a bottle of bubbly and a few beers so we both had a good time.

The next morning we got up early as we had to make it to Milford Sound in time for our cruise in the afternoon. Milford sound is not that far from Queenstown in a straight line but because the region is so mountainous we had to do a big loop taking near to the south of New Zealand to get there a 300km one way trip. Milford sound and the region around it are a national park but very different to the rest of the county as most of the landscape is made up of fiords and lakes. Therefore the road was very winding as it passed around the base of the mountains which seemed to rise out of the water below.

We arrived at the dock with an hour or so to spare before we had to board and it was looking like it might be a pretty rough ride as it had not stopped raining since we left Queenstown and still was when we got there. We knew that the area got a lot of rain (7 metres a year according to the guide book) which helped to make it so unique and helped to form the glaciers and waterfalls that you can see in our pictures on the top of the mountains rising out of the water. Then from nowhere, about 15mins before we had to check in the sky started to clear and we could see blue patches above the hills.

The boat trip itself was amazing we followed the fiords along from the dock to where it joins the Tasman Sea then head back along the other side to get close up to the waterfalls that were cascading down the mountainside. On our return leg the boat slowed as we passed a large rocky outlet were two seals were just chilling out on the rocks in the sun.

After we docked back at the port it was just a case of a 2 hour drive to the most local town that provided backpacker accommodation called Te Anau. We booked in at the YHA after having a good experience at the one in Wanaka and just put ourselves in a cheap dorm as we had to be set off early again the next day to get back up north. This was a massive error, we have slept in some nice dorms so far on the trip but this was worse than some of the days we have slept in tents. One man seemed to want the heating off and the window open even though it's quite chilly at nights in New Zealand at this time of year, then as we were all trying to go to sleep the person in the bunk opposite started to snore and not just snore; you would have had a quieter sleep at the end of Heathrow runway I've never known anyone to be so loud while asleep!!

The next day we got up early as planned feeling very groggy from our little sleep and set off on our 500+ km journey to Lake Tekapo in the middle of the south island. Surprisingly the drive was quite quick and we had a lot to look at along the way as mountains seemed to tower on either side as we drove up the middle of the country. When we arrived, the lake and town looked lovely - a bit like an alpine ski town and our hostel certainly resembled a ski lodge. We got settled then went for a walk around the lake and the town before we stumbled across a mini golf course.The afternoon was spent playing mini golf in the sun by the lake before heading back to the hostel. Had spag bol (again!) for dinner and watched a bit of Toy Story 3, while Katie played mummy to the hostel's 2 amazingly cute kittens - hoping to get a decent night's sleep to make up for the last!!

We are heading off to Kaikoura tomorrow via Christchurch then are set to go Dolphin swimming the day after so will keep you updated/jealous around then.

Lots of love Martin and Katie

(1 days till Dolphin swimming; 2 days till touring the Wine region; 5 days to train for mountain hike of death)