Our journey has finally reached the South Island and over the past two weeks we’ve had a good taster, and its still only the beginning. The spectacular scenery has captured us and the fact that the population is the same as that in Auckland gives you a sense of how these Islands differ. This is the part of New Zealand we have been waiting for.Our trip began with a three hour ferry journey from Wellington to Picton across the Cook Strait, and it certainly was windy. It was only until we cruised into the shelter of Marlborough sounds that we were able to stand up and admire the first sights of the south. The choice in which direction to head from Picton was quite difficult, either go west to Nelson or east to Kaikoura in the end we settled with west.Nelson & Golden BayNelson is a lively but relaxed city and the starting point to some of the counties most stunning walks and dazzling golden beaches. Hot spots are the Abel Tasman National Park, Golden Bay and the 35km sandbar of Farewell Spit. We spent a good ten days exploring the region starting with the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk, one of NZ Great Walks, tramping through native bush, golden beaches and estuaries. Along with the scenery came some exciting wildlife including seal pups and our first penguin sighting.From the Abel Tasman we headed north along Golden Bay to the Farewell spit, we welcomed the cooler air and a spot of rain, as the heat over the past week had started to be uncomfortable. The grey weather added to the remoteness of the area too, the sands blew around our feet forming wonderful formations. The farewell spit is a huge sandbar with vast areas of wetland, an important stop off for migrating birds. The spit is sadly a common spot for whales beaching and we were shocked to hear that 80 or so had done just that a few days after we had visited.Nelson Lakes National Park consists of two glacier formed Lakes, Rotoiti and Rotoroa which are a half hour drive South of Nelson. The park consists of high passes, forest valleys and basins, as well as being a popular spot for boating and fishing oh and not to mention sandflies. Our time in the Lakes was short, the engine of our camper was over heating, hiding away from the sandflies meant we didn’t get eaten but the heat from the engine made the camper rather toasty in the evenings, so with all this in mind we took the road into Westport to see what we could do. Buying some coolant did the trick.West Coast & Arthur’s PassWestport is at the northern end of the West Coast Highway. This side of the Island is renowned for its wet weather and sure enough we hit rain. We had hoped to stay a few nights sampling the surf but the forecast was rain all week. Not to worry though if the weather is bad on the west a good idea is to head East. So off we set but not before seeing some of the coastline on the way to Greymouth. The jurassic like scenery on our left and the surging Tasman on our right made it a wonderfully spiffing drivePancake Rocks is unavoidable along this stretch of road, so we stopped to see this geological bafflement, best visited at high tide. Pancake Rocks consist of layers upon layers of teared rock. The big swell made it even more of a sight as the water shot through the blow holes and crashed against the shore.From Greymouth we headed East through the mountains. The journey through Arthurs Pass was really incredible the scenery surrounded us on either side, the land is covered in trees with many opportunities to explore. Still with the rain coming down we didn’t feel the need to stay around, travelling back here is something for us to keep and look forward too.ChristchurchNew Zealand is not big at all really, so if you keep moving you soon arrive where you want. So this week we have finally arrived in Diamond Harbour, home to Andy and Hillary, relatives of Emma, our base and postal address for the past six months.We have been relaxing in comfort and in good company along with evening entertainment by the harbours famous band ‘Kab Sauv,’ who gave us an exclusive performance, can you imagine the beauty of song flowing through the air when Emma joined in!A hop over the harbour brings you into Christchurch, we spent a day seeing the sights along with signs of the September earthquake. The journey home was fun too, including a ferry ride and a walk along the coast. Our eyes have been wide open looking out over the back garden for dolphins who often come to play here, apart from when we are around of course! The hills surrounding the area here provide some fantastic tramps and we ventured out for a few taking in the views from different spots. There are again so many more opportunities to have here, but as you will read next we just got to keep moving.I hope it wont be long until we arrive back here to climb the rocks, ride the tracks and surf the waves and not forgetting to see the dolphins. Hillary and Andy thank you so much for everything, the meals, the wine, your advice and help, we hope to invite you to Wanaka soon. Good luck with the Wwoofing Hillary, look forward to hearing about it.Emma is now well and truly kitted up for the winter season, spending nearly four hours in the shop was not quite so great, but it was only us and the owner in there so we really got special attention getting the perfect boarding gear for an excellent deal. Just four months to wait for the snow now.Heading for WanakaWe have been moving faster through the South, travelling rather than exploring the land. Our focus now is to get to Wanaka sooner rather than later, to find a place to settle for the coming winter season. It will get busier as time passes, and the competition for accommodation and jobs will be harder. We are both feeling ready to move out of the camper, but will keep hold of her as its going to be great exploring the south from our Wanaka base, not having to worrying about carrying all our stuff around. We leave for Wanaka tomorrow and so hopefully the next time you hear from us we’ll have an address and an invite for you to visit.Hope you are all well, I know many of you back home are looking forward to spring. It’s going to be exciting making plans with family and friends who hope to travel over this year.Lots of Love and look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy the picturesLee and Em Xxx