4th February:

We decided to stay in Wanaka another night cause the boys were desperate to play some Golfcross and they don't have many of them around. It's basically golf but the ball is shaped like a rugby ball and you have to try and get it in very small rugby/post net things. So in the morning we headed straight to Rippon Vineyard to have a game. It was only 9 holes but still managed to take 4 hours with 4 of us playing. As a seasoned pro, Matt won by 15 strokes. Absolute legend.
We were all suffering from a touch of sunstroke by the end of it & hit the road straight after. The next stop was the West Coast. The scenery was amazing, as it so often seems to be on the South island, so naturally we stopped a hundred times for photos. We stopped for a swim at Lake Hawea. It was starting to get late so we hurried along to the first of the 2 Glaciers on the West Coast, Fox.
The light faded pretty quickly & as well as blind hairpins & speeding traffic we had possom like creatures running across the road constantly for over 100km. Matt was on edge the whole way.
By the time we arrived it was past 11 o clock & the car had been running on fumes for most of the journey. We tried to check into Fox Glacier Family Holiday Park but it was short lived. As no-one manned reception at these obsurd hours we chose a spot & said we'd pay in the morning. We were greeted/confronted by an angry looking man who proceeded to make a note of our registration numbers & told us he would park his car behind ours so we couldn't leave without paying!! We basically told him where to stick it & left.
We found another site, even though that guy told us we were dreaming if we thought there was another one in town & it all went smoothly. Got a decent sleep.

5th February:

Woke up, paid at reception (which turned out $8 cheaper than the other place) & headed for the Glacier lookout platform.
It was one of the most surreal sites you can imagine. Imagine a canyon, hundreds of metres deep, filled with a permanent block of ice. It seemed strange that even in temperatures like today it didn't just melt away. Turns out it does at a massively quick rate, but the snow above replaces it.
We did a walk up to the front of the glacier & took a few pics, met a couple from Somerset who told us a few things about the North Island that sound pretty cool, then drove to Lake Matheson. A mirror lake that reflects Mt Cook & Mt Tasman from the right angle.
The reflection was non-existent because the wind was rippling the water & the clouds had set in quite low anyhow. Nice walk though!!
The last planned stop for the day was the Franz Josef Glacier. Similar in most ways to Fox, but easier to get good views.
We did go back to the other campsite earlier today to make a complaint! Such fogies!
Tonight we hoped for a free campsite on the beach, but found a place for $12 a night per van. An absolute steal. We just chilled & talked about tomorrows plans before an early night.

6th February:

We drove a fair distance up the coast to Punakaiki, home of the not so impressive 'Pancake Rocks'. It should be called 'the rocks by the sea'. There are blowholes there but we arrived at low tide, so missed out on that treat. We pretty much bypassed Westport after a brief stop at a beach & headed inland towards Nelson. In general the west coast was somewhat of a let down after all the reviews we've been given. Not compaining though, I know it's better than where I was this time last year!
Nelson, what can we say about our experience of Nelson? Well, it was getting late & we were all very tired. We decided to free camp at a lookout over the town so we could enjoy the sunrise & admire the view by day. The lookout, however, must have been the dogging central for the South Island. Car after car, rolled in, parked up for 5 mins then left. Baring in mind it was midnight! The final straw was when one car drove off & threw an egg at Ed's car. It was so funny, honestly I was near crying. Not. We basically packed up the vans & headed into town. This place looked worse than certain spots in Bristol that I wont name & the people look like they live to kill others! Honestly, I was bricking it! Everywhere we went there were gangs, drinking & pissing about. Massive contrast to what we've seen so far. We tried 3 more places but all had gangs of kids drinking at them. At 3am we pulled up at the roadside & crashed out.

7th February:

So after our first impression of Nelson, the four of us decided not to return. Even the place that we camped had a decapitated goat & boar dumped in the bush. We did head to a beach that we wanted to see & chilled out there. Ed & Sara went on a motorized zip-line thing over the rainforest but it was too pricey for us. The beach was nice anyways.
When we met up, we drove on towards Picton, ready to catch the ferry to the North Island. We camped outside of Picton, in Smith's Farm Holiday Park. We were given welcome muffins & the internet is $1 for a session. Cheapest yet! We checked out the nearest beach but it wassn't much good.

Next time you hear from us will be from the North Island, so watch this space....