Hello all,

Chandler and I have had an amazing trip so far, making our way down the West Coast of the South Island. We tucked up into the NW corner for a 2-day "tramp" in Abel Tasman National Park. Unreal weather conditions, as you may be able to tell. Think tropical NaPali coast of Hawaii with Bristol Bay, Alaska weather. We went from hard rain to sun and heat to cold, cold sleet and gale wind back to sun with rain. And that cycle would take place once every 2 hours. Seriously! Incredible views all-around, highlighted by the shear cliff drops at Seperation Point, while watching sea lions play on the rocks below.

We dried out (for a couple of hours) and drove south toward the glaciers and Southern Alps. Weather has been nothing short of intense here, I always thought it rained and blew hard in WA and AK. NZ is putting a serious run at the title for burly storms. Roaring Forties, eh! We thought our little bread-box van was going to blow away several times, both while driving and parked. While visiting Fanz Josef and Fox glaciers we had a large hail storm, which explains the lack of photos. We are meeting some very nice folks, one fellow joking with us 'flew 10,000 miles to be right at home, did ya?'

We love it here, and don't want to leave. Beautiful. C and I got into Wanaka today(18th), waiting to hear if our trek at Milford Sound will be cancelled due to avalache conditions. We will let you know.

Hope all's well, talk again soon,
M&C