South Island, Part 1

We are just over a week into our tour of the South Island. We decided to head down the east coast and back up the west coast, so our first stop was Kaikoura. The Kaikoura Peninsula has a walkway/trail that follows the coastline around the Peninsula so we spent a day doing that before heading down the coast a bit further. We made a brief stop in Christchurch for lunch (we found tacos that actually tasted like Mexican food!) and then headed down to Oamaru. We got there just in time to see the yellow-eyed penguins on the beach at dusk.

We had planned to spend a few days in the Dunedin area but the weather changed our schedule a bit. It was rainy, windy and very cold with no signs of letting up, so we gave up on Dunedin and made our way to the west coast where the sun was shining. We’ve been camping in the Fiordlands area for the last four days. We got to do a cruise in Milford Sound and did a little backpacking on the Greenstone Track. We ate sand flies for breakfast and dinner every day. Aside from that it was a great time, but we’re both ready for a shower. Scott says he isn’t going to shave again on this trip, so his beard is very long and scraggly. We’re homeless, I suppose we should look like it.

Today, we're off to Queenstown so hopefully we'll have more to post soon!


Milford Sound
















View of the Hollyford River valley
















Mb on the Greenstone




















Scott on the Greenstone