Fiordland 24th April to 27th April 2006 It's a relatively long drive up to Te Anau, the heart of Doubtful Sound, the next day. We organize trips to Milford and Doubtful Sounds and have lunch overlooking lake Te-Anau. The following day we are off down to Manapouri to catch a boat across lake Te-Anau towards Doubtful Sound (together with about 200 others) The weather is not great, in fact it's positively lashing it down. The scenery is totally amazing ...

The Catlins & Invercargil Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd April 2006 We arise early once again to go see some 'hookers'. No, Amy hasn't finally found out about where all those STD's have come from 'hookers' are actually Nz sea lions and boy are they big scary mothers. We take a bit of a walk and see 10 or so that we think are just foolin around. At this time in the morning it's just us and them on a huge beach. We have been really impressed by the abunda...

Otago Peninsula April 21 2006 Probably the most beautiful place we have seen in Nz thus far which is quite a statement. Possible to do with the light in the sky which for the whole day bordered on the bizzarre. It was kind of like day-break for the entire day until dusk. Overhead the sky threatened rain but on the horizon where the cloud stopped and didn't quite meet the landscape the sky was red and it formed almost an entire giant circle of f...

Dunedin 18th April to 20th April 2006 The following day we get the tyres sorted out ($120 for 2) and drive to Dunedin past the Moeraki boulders. Quite a strange sight to see perfectly rounded boulders sitting right in the middle of the beach, I think they were made of harder mudstone than the surrounding soil which has been eroded by the sea over time. The drive south is very hilly and the whirring noise from somewhere in the back of the van seems t...

Mount Cook Region and National Park We said our good byes and drove to Methven, a very pretty town with Alpine feel. Not surprising really as it's a main base for skiiing in Winter. A few beers and Amy won a bit a pool and once more it's a slightly chilly evening. The next day we walked up a glacial valley for about 5hrs adjacent to a beautifully coloured glacial river (full of rock cloud, which turns the water a milky blue colour). A recent dumping of sn...