After a great few days in Kaikoura we made our way across the South Island via Arthurs Passage and stopped at the giant doughnut in Springfield. We also had a quick walk around Castle Hill. It was an amazingly scenic drive but the weather was cold and wet at the highest point of the pass. Stayed overnight in Hokitika, a coastal town where we had a seafood takeaway feast in the hotel room. The next day we tried to see the Fox Glacier so drove to the lookout where we didn't see a thing - thanks to the weather. The drive to Queenstown from there on was beautiful with some incredible water falls and scenery. Queenstown is exactly as described in all the brochures and the drive north to Paradise was amazing. (The town itself is very touristy but in a nice way. From there we drove to Invercargill and the road
trip started to get really interesting. Probably this town was the highlight of the trip with its Hardware store (E Hayes & Sons) that was more like a mechanical museum and Demolition World which was a collection of salvaged buildings and really weird stuff. It was then onto Riverton (and the best accomodation of the trip) on a beautiful beach surrounded by nature. We spent a day doing rainforest walks and exploring the beaches (and gemstones) of the area. A scenic drive to Milford Sound via Tuatapere (New Zealand's sausage capital). A boat ride to see some Fiordland Crested Penguins and then getting attached by some vey nasty Kea parrots on the way back to our accommodation in Te Anau.
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