Wanaka...Fox...Blackball...Kaikoura

We have now come all the way to Kaikoura on the northern east coast. The trip here took us past Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph glacier where we made a walk on top of the glacier. From there we went to Blackball which is just east of Greymouth on the west coast. There we stayed at this fantastic charming hotel called Formerly the Blackball Hilton. The owners added Formerly to the name after being sued by Hilton International. One of the students had a less enjoyable evening because his bed was full of bed bugs that bit him all over. We had a quite long drive yesterday from Blackball to Christchurch over Arhur's Pass and then north to Kaikoura. Today though we have a day off more or less. Some are swimming with dolphins or whale watching. Four of us decided though to just be for the day. Y and I have to plan for our field work. The group is heading of to the north island tomorrow while we are staying down south. The weather so far has been wonderful. Sunny and warm. It was really nice climbing the glacier in sunshine. Today though is a bit worse. But no rain so far at least!