Hi everyone so guess you are all dying to know what I've been up to (or maybe not...) Well I last spoke to you in Queenstown and spent a couple of more days there, we did a walk to Frankton on Thursday morning and then in the afternoon took the Gondola up to the top of the hill for some scenice pictures and also our luge ride. And some of the best fun I've had for $7. Bascially you sit in a little cart and have the choice of the scenic (slow) route down or the adventure route. We went scenic like two old women driving the old people scooter things around a shopping centre and we just laughed so much that in fact I had so many tears in my eyes at one point I could not see and went up a hill too slow only to come down backwards and crash in the wall (and that made me laugh even more). Friday we went over to Wanaka and the weather was not that great - acutally it was freezing so we spent our time buying new jackets and drinking red wine (good girlie day) and also treated ourselves to a bit of a special trip (more on that to follow but just think Groundhog Day). I said bye to Erica on Saturday as she went to Milford Sound for the day and I set off to Te Anau for my overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. This trip was truly wonderful. Doubtful Sound is south of Milford and much much quieter and I was doing an overnight stay here. The Sound was so named as when Cook came to New Zealand and found this place he wanted to venture up the Sound but with the winds he was doubtful he would ever sail the boat out again. Anyway I was on a very small boat with an engine so no such problems for us and we just spent the day viewing seals, fishing (and sorry to say all mine got away) and just watching the world go by. Then we cooked the fish that everyone else caught during the day - wonderful blue cod - and sat around drinking wine before hitting our little cabins. The next morning we did a couple more hours of cruising and this is when we saw dolphins - and my god there were tons and I've never ever been so close to them in my life. They like to play along with the boat and at one point we had around 8 dolphins swimming along under the bow for about 1/2 an hour - it was just wonderful and I came away a very happy and contented girl. Well I made my way back to Queenstown for prep to go back to Franz Joseph for a re-attempt at doing a helihike but got a mail from Erica saying the weather was cr*p and not to bother. Gutted but not defeated I did the only sensible thing and booked a bus north to the sunshine. After a 10 hour bus journey I had to stop overnight in Greymouth where once again I met Erica who had given up on the glaciers and was also going north. We stayed in this really great little hostel called Noah's Ark and everyroom was an animal. I was in the bears room (lots of teddys) and Erica was in the zebra room (lots of stripes). Then yesterday after another long bus journey we've arrived in Nelson which is north of the South Island. Nelson is a really lovely city and a great base to explore the area. It's very arty here and also seems to be pretty famous for seafood and wine (so looking forward to that). We stayed in another great backpackers called Trampers Rest which is just like a little B&B and run by great friendly people (actually, it's probably the best backpackers I've ever stayed in and out here in NZ hostels is one thing they do really really well so that's high praise in deed). Anyway, we've already we've booked up tons to do here over the next few days including walking Abel Tasman, Horseriding (yep I know I can't ride but hey I'm in NZ and prepared for the unknown) and of course a wine tour - see Patrick I'm not letting the side down yet on my wine tour around the world. Well I'll let you all get back to whatever you're doing right now. We're off to church - don't worry we're not going all religious on you but this cathedral is meant to be a great art deco building that caused uproar in the area when built as it was so out of character. Then, for a change, I guess we'll be trying out those great wines the region is famous for.