Heading into the country..

So last time I left you I was riding bulls in Christchurch. Woo-eeee!

After Christchurch we picked up the car and headed north to a tiny town called Picton. On the way we stopped at some beautiful beaches with turquoise water and seals. The seals were really far away, BUT we saw them. Up in Picton we borrowed some bikes from the hostel and rode around to check out the town. Nothing fancy- a bit dead really. The next morning we did a short hike to see the Marlbourough Sounds. This is the water between the South and North Island. AMAZING! The best view. Mountains and water for a far as you can see.

That afternoon we drove about 30 minutes southwest to a town called Renwick where we rented more bikes and did a self guided winery tour. There are 25 wineries within a 4 miles radius of the hostel we stayed in.. so needless to say we didn't have trouble finding the wine. The mainly make white wines here and we had several lovely wines to try. Luckily riding helped keep us sober after 6 wineries :)

With no hangover, we headed northwest to a town that I'm sure I'm spelling wrong called Panikiki. It was a long driving day so we basically got into town and set up our tent, ate some PB & J and went for a walk along the beach. This town is known for their crazy rock formations. They are called the Panikiki Pancakes and they are rocks that are just layered on top of each other. Very fancy!

After seeing pancakes (but not eating them :( ) we drove south to Franz Josef. This is a miniature town with a GIANT glacier. The town is awesome- lots of young travelers and glacier guides so it's all people our age. We booked a day to go out on the glacier yesterday. (Of course it was the only day that it was absolutely pouring rain out of all the days we've been here). So... freezing cold and determined we went out on our hike up the glacier. It was amazing. Blue ice and giant formations everywhere. We climbed through crevices and up and down stairs that the guide chopped just in front of us. Really, it was just awesome, cold- but awesome.

Today we're heading southeast towards some big, well known lakes. We'll be camping tonight and tomorrow night and we're looking forward to that. The plan is to save a bit of cash and do lots of hiking. Free is good :) Then onto Queenstown (the adventure capital of the country) where we'll decide on the bungee.

That's all from here. My computer time is up. Hope all is we'll with everyone. Loving the comments that you guys are leaving. Keep them coming.

Love you all!

A