Day 355 (Monday 24th November 08)

Off to do our food shopping at Countdown and then fill up with petrol. Went to find somewhere to use the internet and Skype. A very wet day! Left Nelson and headed along towards Picton stopping in Havelock, the green shelled mussel capital of the world. It was pouring with rain but went to have a look on the beach to see if we could find any mussels. Didn't have any luck and noticed they were selling them in the shop in the town so went to see how much they were. It was a kilo for ₤1.20 which was 20 big mussels so decided to buy some. Drove further along the coast towards Picton and stopped at a pier again in the rain just to see if there were any mussels around. Couldn't believe our luck when we saw the pier was covered! Mark managed to pick off loads that were just under the water. Ended up taking 100, which is the amount that we could take between the 2 of us a day. Drove on into Picton and it was still pouring with rain. Went and booked the boat to the North Island for the next morning then went off in search of somewhere we could park up to cook all the mussels up! Hadn't really thought it through that well when we were taking them off the pier as it was very difficult to cook them on our little portable cooker outside in the pouring rain and wind!! Only the umbrella to keep us dry and it took about 4 hours! We got soaked and were very hungry by the end of it! Went and got some chips from the chippy to enjoy with our massive mussels. Tried to dry off before going to bed!