Franz Josef > Hokitika > Akaroa

Well the glaciers were absolute stunning.....really, like nothing we've ever seen before. Just an enormous frozen river, appearing as though the end has been sliced clean off to display the cross section. Fox glacier is probably less impressive - a little dirty at the front and with less scenic surroundings, but Franz Josef (see photos) was absolutely magnificent. These two glaciers are reputed to be the most active in the world, advancing or retreating by up to a metre a day. There was the option to walk on the glaciers themselves with a guide, but, again it was expensive and no one we spoke to who had done it seemed to be particularly over whelmed by the experience so we gave it a miss. If you have $320 to spare you can even take a helicopter up to the top to hike in the bright blue ice, through incredible caves and crevices, which would be a great experience I've no doubt.

After two nights in Franz Josef we headed north to Hokitika and stayed in a great place out in the country called the Blur Spur Lodge. With it being winter and with no ski fields nearby, we had the whole hostel to ourselves, which was fantastic after the last few days in the busy mountain towns. We drove out to Hokitika Gorge (30km from Hokitika) to see the swing bridge and turquoise waters, before doing a bush walk near the lodge. The Blue Spur area was a gold mining community so there was lots of interesting mine shafts and tight gaps to squeeze through (we got filthy).

Next day we drove across Arthur's Pass (notoriously treacherous in bad weather, but fine at the moment) and past Christchurch to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. Stayed in a really nice hostel called Chez La Mer for two nights. Unfortunately it rained solidly all night for the first night and the next day we tried to go walking but after a few hairy stream crossings we were basically scrabbling up a muddy hill in the rain so we decided to turn back. On the way back I fell over and got covered in mud, so we went back, put some washing on and went to the pub next door for some much needed medicine.

We're now back in Christchurch, with only one full day here tomorrow before flying to Brisbane on Thursday afternoon.