Left Frans Joseph today and drove along the West Coast towards Westport. I really fantasic drive through the the semi tropical vegitation and the road hugs the coastline most of the way so you get some fantastic views of the Tasman Sea. Stopped at an old Gold Mine for a bit of real touristy sightseeing, as it was this area in the 1890s that had the "Gold Rush". Also saw the pancake rocks and blowhole formations at Punakaiki and took quite a few photo...

l left Mount Cook this morning for the painful 6 hour drive onto the West Coast to see the Fox and Frans Joseph Glaciers. I say the drive is painful beacause its so long and at the end , you end up on the other side of mount cook about 15kms from where you started "as the crow flies" The landscape changes are amazing, and the West Coast gets a huge amount of rain and so the vegitation is quasi tropical. Really lucky with the weather as it was beautif...

Hi Everyone, Drove this mornign from Queenstown to Mount Cook - highest mountain in New Zealand. The lake by the mountian, is so blue you cant believe it until you see it with your own eyes! I took several pictures but I am sure they wont show the true blue olour. Thinks its because the lake gets glacier water into it and its full of certain minerals or something. Gettign to Mount Cook, Ichecked into the YHA as its the onyl real accomodation for the night oth...

Hi all, Got about 6 days blogging to catch up on...so here goes. December 17th - spent the morning white water rafting, then afterwards decided to hike up to the top of the hill over queenstown. theres a cable car that goes up, but thought it would do me good to walk it. Well it was extremely steep and took over an hour. getting tot he top I was covered in sweat as it was hot and humid. So, in the mornign my arms got a workout and int he afternoon it was my le...

Hi all, So decided what to do last night and booked it....white water rafting down the Shotover River...was meant to be a grade 3 bits a 4 rafting session (they go up to 6 apperently) Well this morning woke up early as the seesion stared at 8.15am. It had been raining most of the night. The drive to the rafting station was pretty scary with the road hanging to the side of the cliff going up the valley. When we got there the head instructor said the water was ...