Right, after all of you’ve had a good ol’ laugh at the skydive video, back to the boring stuff :)

We left Nelson only a few days ago, and we’re already quite far down the West coast (which, may I say, lives up to its expectations of being untouched and ridiculously beautiful).

A very small town called Punakaiki was our 2nd stop in South island, after Nelson - and what an unexpectedly serene place it was. The pristine coastline on our right and mountains on our left, this town was the ultimate retreat. We stayed in an amazing hostel called Te Nikau, which was literally a home away from home. Our room was amazing and the cottage-like feel to this ‘hostel’ gave it the edge (and so was the owner Hamish, who baked us fresh bread in the morning). We met a Dutch couple there, Ruurd & Froukje, who we are currently travelling with for a while.

The main (and only) attraction that Punakaiki is known for is the Pancake Rocks and blowholes. It was a one hour walk there and back – ah, the mission of not having a car. Was worth it though, the rock formations were interesting and we caught quite a cool effect from the blowhole.

The following morning we jumped on the coach to the much acclaimed Franz Josef glacier. Again, we missed out a couple of towns on the way which may seem silly seeing as we have so much time here, but we heard the in-betweeny towns were nothing special. The drive from Punakaiki via Haast and then onto Franz Josef was sensational. I’ve never seen such untouched beauty before. Blue skies, snow-capped mountains, rugged green mountains and gorgeous coastline were upon us for the 5 hour journey. That evening we went to see some glow-worms in the forest in PITCH dark. Luckily, Ruurd had a flashlight but for 4 people it wasn’t that effective.. Still, we got to see some glow-worms so that was cool.

The next morning we were to ice-climb the Franz Josef glacier, which is basically the main reason travellers stop in this area. I was quite possibly more nervous about climbing this than the Tongariro Crossing because it seemed a bit more intense and nerve-wracking. We were in a group of about 15 with a guide, and as you can see in the photos, we were fully equipped with boots, crampons, jacket etc. Ice-walking is fun and unusually relaxing.. possibly because the concept of having crampons to help you walk relaxes you. The sun was beaming down, and the glacier was on show in its full glory. Seeing as ice-hiking wasn’t half as scary as we expected, we regret not opting for the full-day hike, as we only did the half day (which was still 4.5 hours). After a productive day it was back down to Franz Josef village, where we were based, to the swanky bar round the corner where we treated ourselves to a few après-glacier cocktails – yummy.

We are now in a town called Wanaka, which honestly is THE best town we've been to so far in NZ. It has an après-ski town feel to it, and the weather has been awesome for the past 2 days here. Oh, and another great pick for accommodation - Wanaka Bakpaka.

Enjoy the photos :)