The crossing was a bit windy.....
And the route over to Westport was a bit misty - didn't really get the promised views but it was still spectacular!
As the rain didn't stop we decided to get even wetter and did some cave rafting. This is Steve coming back down the river... my attempt at these rapids didn't work out so well - I went through rather than over the white water!
We carried on down the West Coast to Fox Glacier. As the weather was really bad the rivers coming off the glaciers were flooding...
... and this was the closest we could get to the glacier (camera is zoomed in)
Good job really that we couldn't get much closer as the road to get out again was gradually washing away... 
Unfortunately the weather at Franz-Josef wasn't much better....
There was so much rain that seeing the occasional glimpse of sun was really a treat - this is the first time we'd seen the sun in a few days so we had to get it on camera!
One benefit of all the rain was that the waterfalls were really amazing... although having to drive through them as they splashed across the road wasn't too much fun... all an adventure of course!
Another glimpse of sunshine through the stormy skies. This was on the road from Haast through to Wanaka.
Finally a sunny morning when we reached Wanaka. This was followed by rain through the night, snow on the mountains and the lake almost flooding. The gates out of the lakes were opened fully to let water out. Water in the lake was beautifully clear but rather chilly as it is glacial run off, we opted out of taking a dip! 
We met up with Mom and Dad at Wanaka and travelled around with them for a few days, including a trip to Cromwell trying to find some sunshine. We stopped for a picnic by the side of one of the lakes.
We reached Queenstown and had time to sit outside for dinner before we lost the last of the sun. We had booked to go on the Shotover Jet boat in the morning so were really excited...
However the overnight rain flooded the landing site for the Jet boats and all trips were cancelled. Silver lining was that we went up the gondola and went on the Luge - Steve beat me, of course, he managed to get the luge cart on 2 wheels going round one of the corners and going over a bump it actually left the ground - typical :)
Well of course the dry weather didn't last so we headed further South. Eventually ending up at Invercargill for Christmas day. We found a small but incredibly clean camp site just outside the town where we stayed for 2 days. On Christmas day, despite the gale force winds we took a trip down to Bluff, the southernmost point of the South Island.
I think Dad is holding on to prevent him being blown away!!! On Boxing day Steve and I carried on around the coast and made it to Slope Point... The real southernmost point of the South Island... next stop Antarctica...
maybe not this time, we headed on round to curio bay and saw some penguins though, and the odd seal or two. First time I've seen penguins in NZ :)
On with our travels... amazing how far you can get in a day, we made it to Niagra Falls... Me thinks someone was being funny when they named these!
Well the weather wasn't improving much, and we only had the odd sunny spell between the mist and rain. We carried on round the coast until we got to the Moeraki Boulders. These are really strange boulders that occur naturally from the cliffs and fall down to the beach. They consist of mud, fine silt and clay, cemented by calcite and are about 1.5m diameter.
Well the weather didn't pick up at all, in fact the more we drove the worse the weather got. I drove from the coast to Twizel and back again and the weather was torrential horizontal rain. I know I'm a cautious driver but I couldn't go above 40kph because I just couldn't see where I was steering :( We decided enough was enough and after being rained off from one campsite we headed back to Picton, changed our ferry ticket to the following day, found a dry campsite and settled down for our last night in the camper.
Finally a sunny morning when we reached Wanaka. This was followed by rain through the night, snow on the mountains and the lake almost flooding. The gates out of the lakes were opened fully to let water out. Water in the lake was beautifully clear but rather chilly as it is glacial run off, we opted out of taking a dip! We met up with Mom and Dad at Wanaka and travelled around with them for a few days, including a trip to Cromwell trying to find some sunshine. We stopped for a picnic by the side of one of the lakes.We reached Queenstown and had time to sit outside for dinner before we lost the last of the sun. We had booked to go on the Shotover Jet boat in the morning so were really excited...However the overnight rain flooded the landing site for the Jet boats and all trips were cancelled. Silver lining was that we went up the gondola and went on the Luge - Steve beat me, of course, he managed to get the luge cart on 2 wheels going round one of the corners and going over a bump it actually left the ground - typical :)Well of course the dry weather didn't last so we headed further South. Eventually ending up at Invercargill for Christmas day. We found a small but incredibly clean camp site just outside the town where we stayed for 2 days. On Christmas day, despite the gale force winds we took a trip down to Bluff, the southernmost point of the South Island. I think Dad is holding on to prevent him being blown away!!! On Boxing day Steve and I carried on around the coast and made it to Slope Point... The real southernmost point of the South Island... next stop Antarctica... maybe not this time, we headed on round to curio bay and saw some penguins though, and the odd seal or two. First time I've seen penguins in NZ :)On with our travels... amazing how far you can get in a day, we made it to Niagra Falls... Me thinks someone was being funny when they named these! Well the weather wasn't improving much, and we only had the odd sunny spell between the mist and rain. We carried on round the coast until we got to the Moeraki Boulders. These are really strange boulders that occur naturally from the cliffs and fall down to the beach. They consist of mud, fine silt and clay, cemented by calcite and are about 1.5m diameter. Well the weather didn't pick up at all, in fact the more we drove the worse the weather got. I drove from the coast to Twizel and back again and the weather was torrential horizontal rain. I know I'm a cautious driver but I couldn't go above 40kph because I just couldn't see where I was steering :( We decided enough was enough and after being rained off from one campsite we headed back to Picton, changed our ferry ticket to the following day, found a dry campsite and settled down for our last night in the camper. 
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