We left Wellington and took ferry across Cook Strait to South Island. To save costs on ferry crossing, we left our rented car at its Wellington's office and arranged to pick up another car at South Island ferry terminal in Picton. With Joyce joining us for South Island trip, we requested for bigger car.

Nelson is the first town in South Island. In general, South Island has always been quieter and more scenic as compared with North Island. To certain extend, we hardly came across any vehicles or houses except endless expanses of lush pastureland dotted with herds of sheep!

We headed west via West Coast following SH6 route. With its mountainous geographical condition, road in South Island was winding and rugged than over in North Island.

I took over driving when heading to Greymouth. After a few miles of winding road, I pulled over to take a short break at a look up point. Most of the gals were half-asleep in the car. I went out for fresh air. At the same time there was a caravan parked beside us with an elderly couple enjoying tea break in the caravan.

After a short refreshing stretch, I went back to the car and continued our journey without realizing my waist pouch had fell off from the car. After half an hour of driving, I was honked by a caravan signaled me to stop the car. I pulled aside as I remembered they were the old couple I spotted at the look-up point. The old man walked straight to me and asked whether we had lost anything.

Only then, I realized that my waist pouch went missing, I was terrified because I kept all my money and passport in the pouch. Luckily it was picked up by this kind American couple. After some verification, he passed back the waist pouch to me. It was really kind of them to chase all the way to give it back to me. I was very grateful and relieved to say the least!

And by sheer coincidence his caravan was running out of petrol. Returning his favour, we dropped him off to the nearest town Greymouth for him to arrange a refill back to his caravan, which was 10 miles away.

This incident proved the saying that one who does good deeds would eventually get his deeds back. However, due to this side-track we missed the route to Pancake Rock at Punaikaki.

It was late in the evening when we arrived at Greymouth, without much survey we simply put up a night at a guesthouse. The guesthouse we stayed was kind of old and eerie. The old parquet floors kept giving out squeaking sound on every step we made, which made your hairs stand!

Greymouth is an industrial town with little to explore, seeing that we headed straight to Hokitika after breakfast. NZ biggest Jade factory is located in Hokitika. We were introduced to Westland Greenstone, so called New Zealand's Jade. For souvenir purpose, each of us bought a few small and cheaper stones.

Next, we moved on to Fox Glacier, which is 189km away from Greymouth. On the way, we spotted a very nice mirror lake at Franz Joseph. By the time we reached Fox Glacier, it was still early. After checked-in to guesthouse, we went straight to Information Center to make enquiry on Fox Glacier's main attractions.

We began our first itinerary by taking up its renowned Glacier Walk. Wearing 15 pounds nailed boots, we braved the inclemency of South Westland climate, walked on the icy slopes of the Fox glacier.

It was a fun walk. We had a great time especially when we had a handsome guide Rob, safely escorted us. Back to the center, we were even given a certificate of achievement for finishing the walk.

Our next stop was Queenstown. The journey to Queenstown was very scenic. We drove thru Haast Pass entering into Southland passed by numerous picturesque lakes, Lake Wanaka, Lake Hawea, Lake Wakatipu.

Taking photograph was relative easy in New Zealand, with its natural scenic view of Alpine, turquoise lakes, blue sky; anyone with idiot-proof camera can produce very good shot. Our entire photos turned out to be very clear and nicely taken. These prints were our best souvenir for this trip.

After driving of 227km, we came to Wanaka district. We stopped and had fun in its Wanaka Maze and Puzzling world. After that, we kept on another 71km to Queenstown.

We were quite amazed with the way of these fruit stalls operated. Almost all of them were left unattended and operated using self-services system. We were thinking of walking away with free fruits. However, with second look we spotted a hidden camera, obediently we weighted the fruit and put money into its cashier box.

With numbers of narrow hilly road, huge lakes and waterfalls in South Island, we frequently came across one way bridges where motor vehicles were required to take turn giving way to each direction to cross the bridge.

Instead of staying in Queenstown, we decided to explore Fiordland - Milford Sound first before coming back for outdoor activities.

Te Anau is merely a transit point for tourist to get to Milford Sound, nothing much to explore. We left Te Anau early in the morning. We were rewarded with lovely view of Te Anau Lake and Lake Waikatipu along the journey of 180km back to Queenstown.

Once we reached Queenstown, we went straight to check on the outdoor activities organized by Danes. After rounds of discussion, we decided to go separate way. JP, Joyce and I decided to take up the more challenging white water rafting at Kawarau River, while EM and YL opted for Jet Boating at Shotover River.

I was surprised to find myself daring enough to go for white water rafting when I was barely a swimmer at that moment. However, it was a good choice, I had a terrific time.

It was a big crowd at the day we signed up. After signing up, each of us was given a set of diving suit, however none of us fit the suits well.

We were taken to the riverside and separated into 6 to a team. 3 of us stayed closely to each other and refused to be separated off. After a few tips and demonstration of paddling from Danes instructors, our highlights began.

Kawarau white water rafting is rated as 2nd to 3rd Classes, for the rapid of the river is milder. With that instance, our instructor purposely made some highlight by over turning our raft. When the raft was overturned, I was terrified to find myself trapped under the raft. The river was very cold as if you were swimming in the ice water. I was shivering as the icy river water kept flowing into my non-fitting diving suit. It took me quite a while and lots of energy to struggle myself to get out from the raft, swam to get my paddle and climbed back into the raft. The river water was so clean that you could drink directly from it. Nevertheless, it was really a good experience.

At the end of the event, we were given a certificate of achievement for completing the rafting. We were told that photos were taken during the rafting, which could be purchased at additional costs. However, we did not stay long enough to see the photos, which available on the following day.