Have arrived on the South Island via the Coastal Pacific railway. We spent 2 nights in Christchurch which still has a lot of earthquake damage to repair. The centre has been badly damaged and is closed of so the Kiwis have set up a shopping centre made from shipping containers - very inventive.
Took the Trans-Alpine train across to Greymouth which covered some pretty amazing scenery.
Picked up our car for the week, Toyota Rav 4 & drove up to the Franz Josef glazier. Unfortunately the weather turned typically British here with lots of rain. All changed today as we drove down to Queenstown. Long but interesting drive with lots of hairpin bends through the mountains!! Again some lovely scenery as we went from mountains to lakeside.