We have crossed to The South Island.First stop was Kaikoura where we went whale spotting. A 9 mile trip out to sea on a fast, bucking catamaran took us out to the 1600 metre deep chasm where the whales live and feed. It took a while but in the end we did see a 70 ton sperm whale as it came up for air. What a great sight.

Our next stop was at Springfield for an overnight stop at what can best be described as a pub with a few rooms. It was clean enough and fine for an overnight stay. The bar was full of locals, mainly farmers in for a few beers before the start of another week. We felt a bit out of of place in NZ Raw!

On Monday it was not the best day as we crossed Arthur's Pass to the west Coast. The cloud was very low as the road passed through some spectacular scenery with even some snow on some of the mountains. We even met the famous Kea parrot. This bird has developed something of a taste for rubber, and one took a real fancy to our car aerial.

Once through the pass we headed to Shantytown. This is a recreation of one of the 19th Century gold rush towns. We even had a try at panning for gold, and managed to recover some minute grains to take home. Not sure we will have enough to sell though!

Here are some photos (the one below is not one of mine)

http://photobucket.com/albums/w452/paulnharris1954/Paul and Jen on tour/South Island