For those that haven't driven the west coast of the South Island; I heartily recommend it. After the wonderful ferry to Picton, we drove to Nelson which is a beautiful seaside city. Plenty of wineries (we hadn't booked a tour in advance so out of luck) and wonderful lunch at Mapua. After two nights, we drove to Fox Glacier. The Tasman pine forests were beautiful on the way to Greymouth and then an easy drive to Franz Joseph glacier. We walked up to base of glacier; spectacular. We then drove to Fox Glacier to spend the night. The next morning we went 6KM west of Fox Glacier for a most fantastic view; not only Fox Glacier but also Mt Cook and the ridge line of the Southern Alps. Then we drove to a wonderful viewing spot close to Fox Glacier. The drive from their to Queenstown was amazing. Pristine coastlines with few people and then up Haast Pass with plenty of stops for waterfalls. We took the shortcut into Queenstown which was a bad move; all the switchbacks made it a very slow and uncomfortable trip; I would recommend staying on SH6.

Once we got to Queenstown, we needed to rebook our excursions. First, changed Milford Sound flight to Sunday due to forecasted rain (which has appeared on schedule). Second, we had final paperwork for sale of our Alabama house yesterday so we moved Earnslaw steamship to Saturday. I am glad to report that after TWO YEARS we are finally DONE with the sale.

Three more days in Queenstown followed by two days in Auckland (America's Cup sailing boat) and then we will be heading home. Roo and post-rRoo have been spectacular.

Marc