South Island

Marlborough

Justifiably famous for its wine but also some fab scenery, arrive at Picton on Inter-Island ferry - beats Dover-Calais by some margin.



Cycling round vineyards - someone had to do it!



We think we managed 11 - note the full panniers & rucksack



Which of course builds up a ferocious thirst




West Coast

Famous for glaciers, rain & sand flies, and we got all 3 - along with a speeding ticket - oh well
Fox glacier just visible - better views later.




Wanaka

Crossing the alps to the east stopped the rain



And made the sun appear again.




Queenstown

Rather crowded with people wanting to jump off things but very beautiful






Fjordland

Some iconic places disappoint - not this one. In the morning a flight over Doubtful Sound





And in the afternoon Milford Sound on a cloudless day - lucky given it gets 7 - 9 metres of rain a year and rains 2 days out of 3. We were ready for the sand flies this time.



One down side was the waterfalls weren't full - we coped and David still managed to get wet under one.





One of the better sunsets we've seen




Mount Cook

Another fab day so hopping into a heli wasn't optional, landing on the Tasman glacier





Before a whizz round the ice sheet  & Mt Cook itself





Christchurch & Akaroa

Another beautiful city with an unnecessarily beautiful bay (Akaroa) on it's doorstep with friendly Hector's dolphins small but perfectly formed.



We did manage to swim with them but no photos as we rather wanted to keep the camera.



More botanical gardens back in Christchurch



Where punting appeared to be a must do - out punter was called Chris, came from Germany and learnt to punt in Cambridge.


From there to the airport :-(