So much to write about and not nearly enough time! Here’s some of the highlights since the last update…

• Watching Royal Albatross swooping past just a few metres away at Taiaroa Head
• Flying into the beach at Mason Bay on Stewart Island in a tiny Cessna 185
• Staying up until past midnight hunting for kiwi…
• … and finally seeing one!
• Hiking across Stewart Island
• A very wild water taxi ride back to Oban in a 2m high swell
• Spending 2 hours photographing and recording Kaka (New Zealand parrots) in a tiny pocket of forest just outside Oban
• Driving the amazing road to Milford Sound and back, including a stop to see the Keas and a trip through the Homer Tunnel after the lights were turned off for the night
• Doing the Key Summit walk from the Milford Road – a stiff climb, but great views from the top and amazing mosses and lichens as well.
• Being woken by a Morepork calling right outside the camper in a remote DoC campsite by the Eglinton River
• A spectacular day of driving from Te Anau to Lake Wanaka

Tonight we’re in a Top 10 campsite at the Franz Josef glacier – after a couple of nights in DoC wilderness campsites we need to service the van and enjoy a hot shower! In the morning we’re planning to walk up to the glacier, and then drive north to Westport.