The South island is definitely better than the North! We started off in Kaikoura with a whale-watching cruise (known as a "sea-sickness cruise" to the locals); after only 10 minutes we saw a sperm whale surface! We watched him for another 10 minutes, spouting out of his blow hole, until he dived under, stuck his tail in the air, and swam down 1200m for food. It was incredible, and 40 minutes later we were treated to a repeat performance! We headed closer to shore afterwards and found a pod of 200-300 dusky dolphins - they swam so close to the boat; we watched them for half an hour swimming and playing - they're beautiful animals!
A few days later we were out at sea again, dressed in wetsuits (very fetching!) ready to swim with the dolphins. We found a pod of 50-100, the horn on the boat sounded, we all jumped in. We had been told that for the dolphins to interact with us, we should swim in a circle, dive down under water, or make a high-pitched squealing sound. So all of us (20-30 people) all jumped in and started squealing - it was so funny! We were rewarded with dolphins swimming right underneath us.
We drove through the magnificent Arthur's Pass, to the glacial region, in the West. We walked to the Terminal Face of both the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, then we took a day trip climbing onto the Franz Josef and walking up it wearing crampons over our boots. Mike loved every second, the ice was amazing, he took lots of photos! I found it was a very good way to cure my fear of heights, some of the sheer drops made my eyes water!! We were absolutely exhausted by the end of the day, but it was so worth the effort.
Further south, in Queenstown, we took a jet boat ride through the 'Shotover Canyon', which was pure high-adrenaline fun; the 360 degree spins had us screaming every time! Nearby Arrowtown was a perfectly quaint authentic 1900s village.
We decided to brave the sand flies and terrential rain, for the stunning scenery of Milford Sound. The rain stopped, but continued to trickle down the mountain sides and the waterfalls were huge.
We spent 4 days in Mt Cook national park doing local walks. At night the mischievous Keas (big parrot-like birds) attacked our campervan, so Mike set the windscreen wipers on them, ha ha!
That brings us round to Christchurch where we've just handed our campervan back in and will be spending the next few days, until we fly to Australia.
