3566 kilometres later....South Island complete!

It was sad to say goodbye to Queenstown after a fun and expensive few days of activities. However, our next destination, and the drive to it was something to get excited about. The drive would take us over the highest sealed road in New Zealand past Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, towards the west coast and on to Franz Josef. State Highway 6 was our best drive yet. With perfect blue skies and scenery that was out of this world it was hard to keep our eyes on the road. (Don't worry Kate, we did arrive safe and sound!) The majority of the drive was winding through towering bush covered mountains, waterfalls galore, wide meandering rivers and glacial valleys, however as New Zealand is known for, drive for thirty seconds and the scenery changed in to flat plains, with the odd, out of place mound of rock reminding us of what we had just left behind. Further up the west coast after more stunning views we reached Glacier Country! We arrived in Franz Josef and to our backpackers where we were booked in to the Love Shack (the cheapest and only room they had so we were a little apprehensive) which turned out to be an old caravan decked out in deep red and blue velvet…very tasteful…NOT! Needless to stay we managed to get some well needed rest before our full day hike on the Franz Josef Glacier.  

We woke up to the standard pitter patter of rain as like clockwork for our days of activities so far in New Zealand (apart from Queenstown), but weren't down hearted and prepared in good spirits. This was felt by the Maori gods as the sun broke through the clouds as we walked up the valley towards the terminal face of the glacier. A steep hike up an almost sheer cliff face to the start of the ice and we were ready to fit on our crampons. After a few wobbly minutes of getting used to the crampons, we were off and on the glass like ice. The ever changing ice-scape (over a metre of movement a day) meant that most of the tracks and steps we were led across were made that very morning. We were both amazed by the obscure shapes created by the mighty force of the flowing ice, especially when we did a little ice caving in the first of many caves and tunnels. A chute created by the melting ice large enough for us to stand in and a worm tunnel resembling a flume were definitely the highlights! As we moved further up the glacier through blue crevasses and deep cracks we stopped on the flattest part of the glacier for a surreal lunch on a mellow plateau of smooth ice before the second aggressive looking terminal face. After lunch we continued up in to the ice maze, the most blue ice of the hike before a trek back down. Our trip wouldn't be complete without rain, it seems to follow us as everyone else we meet praises the weather, so the trek down was a wet and slippery one and we were both relieved to take off the crampons and tend to our (Laura's) blisters. It was an incredible day, and we both felt a real sense of achievement looking back at the glacier and seeing how far we had trekked. We had little energy left so a quick meal and bed readying ourselves for the journey further up the west coast to our eco-getaway. 

Another sunny day for travelling made the drive another one to remember as we continued along the State Highway 6 with the pancake rocks, and other moments of stunning scenery. We avoided dawdling as we wanted to make the most of the highly rated Beaconstone Ecolodge. Upon arrival we were excited to see we were in "The Hut" our very own mini lodge looking over the valley carpeted with thick native bush. After sorting out and settling in, not to mention checking out the compost loos we met Grea, the mastermind behind this incredible and inspiring lodge, who suggested we go for a walk down to the river along the home made track for a swim in the lagoon. After a 20 minute battle through the thick bush we finally reached "the beach," more like a small spit of sand and decided to give the swimming a miss after crossing the river and realising just how cold it was! So instead Laura sunbathed and Charlie went for a little adventure further down the river with his camera. We trekked back to the lodge and celebrated our one year with strawberry infused sparkling wine (cringe but had to be mentioned) before cooking a meal and heading to bed in our king size bed! It was virtually impossible to get Laura out of bed in the morning because she "slept the best she'd slept…EVER." 

On route to the marine-mammal capital of the world, we made a quick stop in Nelson to pick up some five-dollar flip flops for Charlie and continued on towards the famous wine-producing region of Marlborough, where we spotted many familiar wines (Ian and Heather) including their favourite Oyster Bay as well as Cloudy Bay, Wither Hills and The Ned. Past the beautiful vineyards, we drove over the hills and eventually reached the bright blue waters of the east coast. This was yet another journey full of many distractions as we continuously watched the ocean in the hope of spotting the spout from a cetacean. Our wish was not granted quite so quickly, but we were lucky enough to see yet another huge colony of New Zealand Fur Seals and their pups. We arrived at the well known hostel called "The Lazy Shag" which we were delighted to find had an ensuite bathroom (a change from the dark and cold outside toilets that seemed to have become a norm). We spent the afternoon relaxing with iPods and a kindle (thank you Lloyd, Kelly and Diddles!) in preparation for our VERY early and cold start the next day. 

We awoke disgustingly early at 4.30 am and headed on down to "Dolphin Encounter" in the pitch black for 5.15. After checking in we, blurry-eyed, geared up in uber-tight wet suits for our morning wake up call in the freezing-cold Pacific Ocean. We were transported down to our boat Dalphinadae and briefed on how to dance and communicate with the dolphins. We were still in a semi-dazed state as we watched the sun break into view, creating a magnificent spectrum of warm colours across the sky but then, a flutter of excitement as we saw a small pod of dolphins cross our wake performing acrobatics right behind us. "No no we are looking for a slightly larger pod than that", over the boat speaker. We were then called into action by our guide as we approached a pod of TWO HUNDRED dusky dolphins! We sat on the back of the boat waiting for the horn to blow, giving us the signal to jump in the Ocean. It took a few moments to adjust to the cold of the water but we quickly forgot about the temperature and the depth of the water (1600m) as we were greeted by the playful and inquisitive Dusky Dolphins. We both experienced the magic of catching a dolphins eye and have him circle you in a friendly gesture before darting off as if it were a game. The pod passed and we returned to the boat absolutely buzzing and eager to enter the water again. We were lucky enough to have five separate dives, each even better than the one before. At one point Charlie had over 20 dolphins pass by him in a matter of seconds and amazingly managed to catch it on video whilst Laura tried to make friends with them. We were gutted to be dragged out the water, changed into our warm clothes and had a much needed hot chocolate before a final chance to get photographs of the dolphins above the water, and we were also joined by one lonesome, not-so-common Common Dolphin.

With the whole day still ahead of us we were too tempted to say no to seeing Kaikoura from the sky and the chance to see the third largest whale on earth, the Sperm Whale. Our pilot, who had a great knack of making it sound like we WERE going to crash and we WEREN'T going to see whales, tricked us as within moments of getting over the sea Laura spotted a teenage male sperm whale building up its oxygen levels at the surface before showing his fluke and diving down 1.5 km into the Kaikoura canyon to pray on giant squid. We were even more fortunate when the pilot spotted a second sperm whale, meaning that the majority of our half hour plane ride was spent observing and not searching for whales! After a nap and a much needed subway, bedtime soon arrived.

Our last day on the South Island was spent retracing our tracks through the Marlborough vineyards back towards Picton. Here we checked into our hostel, had a round of crazy golf in the beautiful sunshine (which Laura won) and watched a film. We woke up extra early to make sure we would not miss the ferry, said our farewells to our little white Siri (our beloved white Daihatsu Sirion) and boarded the ferry for the most scenic ferry ride in the world, through Queen Charlotte Sound. We arrived three hours later in Wellington, on the North Island, and picked up our not-so-cool faded gold sirion. We spent the afternoon wandering around Wellington in the sun and are looking forward to beginning our North Island adventures, starting with the Te Papa Museum tomorrow.