South Island: Metallica is rockin' stronger than ever!

We are officially a "bit" behind on the blog so this may be a bit of a longer post....and we will try and get some more pictures posted soon.
We were able to complete the Tongariro Crossing hike the day after we had that rain day. The hike went pretty decent and the scenery was like nothing that either of us had ever seen before. It started at Mt Ngauruhoe Aka "Mt Doom", continued on to Red Crater which had dark red rock and steaming vents and then through some small turquoise lakes. 
We stopped at Red Crater for a bite to eat when some Japanese tourists came along and one lady had her hat blow off and down it went over the crater edge. They had said there goodbyes to the hat when Q decided to fetch it for her. As he descended over the edge and on to the scree slopes the tourists were yelling "no, don't do it!". He retrieved it and they all started to applaud. It was hilarious. ("Clint Eastwood! Very Tall!")
The tail end of the hike, the last 8km, was all down hill and while that may sound easy, it was killer on the knees and toes. The other only down side of the hike was that because the spectacular views it is a very popular hike. So popular that about 300 people start the hike between the hours of 7-9am. It was almost as busy as a marathon start. 
From there we made our way to Wellington over a period of a couple days. Driving here isn't like at home where covering a distance of 400 km isn't a big deal. The roads here are windy and poor Q has a weak stomach when it comes to motion sickness. It's a trade off... You either take gravol and risk falling asleep at the wheel or just embrace feeling nauseous for most of the drive. So far we've been doing the latter. 
Wellington seemed full of art and culture. With more restaurants per capita than any other city in the world, as well as theaters and museums, it made it a fun city to hang around for a couple of days. It was here that we met up with the 3rd member of our "Metallica Crew", Mr. Lucas Aasen! He's been with us for a few days now and his humor, not to mention his devastating good looks, have been a welcomed addition to our journey.
We travelled to the south island on Tuesday on a luxurious ferry, complete with a theatre and live band and we even saw some dolphins. 
Our first stop in the south was Abel Tasman National Park where we managed to find some affordable camping. It was $20 as opposed to $40 which is the price of most campsites in the north. We hiked part of the Abel Tasman Coast Track, also known as the Abel Tasman Death March, by taking a water taxi to a midway point and walking back. It passes through native bush overlapping golden beaches and as described in the guide book, the numerous bays are like a travel brochure come to life. It was about 22 km and we refer to it as the "March of Death" because I (riley) developed a couple of blisters which caused me to hike the last 7km without a left shoe on. We will try and post some photo evidence later. 
At the end of the hike a car passed us with a flat tire. I only tell this story bc it was a hilarious scene. The boys decided to help the clueless ladies out and they had barely gotten out of their rental car and Lukas and Q had swooped in, had the spare tire out of the trunk and the car up on the jack when the ladies said in shock "you're here to change the tire?". It was a young woman and her mom, both from Germany and all the mother kept saying was "not in Germany". She tried to pay the boys, but they insisted no. We left feeling pretty good, having added to Canada's reputation and hopefully getting some good karma.
Thursday we checked out Punakaiki, a place known for "the pancake rocks". It's cliff edges have been eroded by the ocean in such a way that it's layered like pancakes. We were hoping to camp there, but everything was full so we continued to the next town and ended up camping in the driveway of Lukas' hostel. 
Friday we headed further down the west coast to Franz Joseph Glacier. It was a gorgeous day so Lukas wanted to go for a swim. After much pressure I was convinced to jump in too. Of course I had some stipulations...no splashing, no pushing me in, no dunking etc. The water was quite nice until we got out and a tour guide said "did you see any eels down there?". I responded with "are you serious?". Apparently they bite, but they'll only take a "small" chunk out...super.
Yesterday we did a short hike to the glacier and today it is pouring rain so we are making the 6 hour drive to Queenstown.
P.s. Happy 50th birthday mom!!!