My prayers were answered the sea in the Cooks Strait was calm and the ferry journey was smooth. The strait is named, if you haven't already guessed after our friend Captain Cook who was the first European Commander to sail through it in 1770. It connects the Tasman Sea with the South Pacific Ocean. Not much of it is in open seas (lucky for me), most is through inlets leading into Picton on the South Island and out through Wellington Harbour leaving the North Island. It is 14 miles wide at its narrowest and is considered one of the most dangerous waters in the world. Thank goodness I only found that out after we arrived in Picton.

We headed down the east coast the next morning and drove through Blenheim. Just by chance I saw a sign to the Omaka Aviation Heritage centre so we had to make a detour. On approaching the centre another sign advertised Omaka Classic Cars, a double whammy for Peter and another car museum for me!!!

The museum was another private collection this time of a local winegrower who obviously has a bit of a liking for Jaguars and doesn’t do too bad with his wine sales. Peter had a good chat with one of the volunteer restorers in their very large workshop (envy all over his face).

The Aviation centre had WW1 planes from all over the world some belonging to Sir Peter Jackson a film director (Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are some of his). You could see his influence as some of the planes were in very realistic settings, including my favourite; a British plane crashed into a tree with the pilot and the German pilot, who had shot him down, having a chat whilst some German soldiers looked at the smashed plane.

We continued down the coast towards Kiakoura and stopped at Ohau Point to see a large Fur Seal colony and I mean large. There must have been hundreds of them. We stopped to watch the antics of young ones in a pool. One was playing with a big bit of seaweed. All of a sudden they all made a rush out of the pool. We watched and a couple of large older males were psyching each other up and obviously the young ones decided it was prudent to get out of the way. As soon as the males wandered away the young ones all dashed back into the pool. It was quite comical.

The weather that day was fierce with gusts blowing Sid all over the road. It looked like we might not be going out in a boat whale spotting. We called into the company and they confirmed boats were not going out so we splashed out and booked a helicopter. Now this was rather expensive – Peter is still recovering from the shock, which may have been less of a shock if we had actually seen a whale but no all we got was a lot of sea and a small group of Dolphins- which I can hear you saying is good isn’t it? Well ask Peter! I would have to say no as they state 98% success rate on their advert. It is claimed that this is THE place to see whales in the whole of NZ because a southerly current brings an abundance of marine life up against a steep offshore bank funnelling them down into a small area around Kiakoura. As far as we could tell they had no sightings all morning. Disappointed we left Kiakoura and after a bit of shopping, including picking up the latest issue of The Shed (a magazine Peter has taken a liking to) we headed to the road leading to the west coast through Arthur’s Pass.

Yet again Abel Tasman beat Captain Cook and sighted the west coast first in 1642 but was obviously still upset about the Maori attack on the North Island so just sailed past. Captain Cook arrived some 50 years later in 1770.

Now the road from the east to west coast cuts through the Southern Alps via Arthurs Pass. First you drive through Porters Pass, which is very exposed. It was so windy that once again poor Sid was blown all over the road and even had small rocks thrown at him from the steep sided slopes. You could see snow-capped mountains all around. Next comes Castle Hill with some very weird weathered limestone rock formations. This is followed by a fantastic limestone cave with a stream running through it. The cave is 360 metres long formed when the stream ran along a fissure in the limestone. The journey through the cave takes one hour. We didn’t attempt it. Just after this the sun was obscured by clouds and low mist and then it rained. Some 30Kms on you reach Waimakariri stream (although it’s not like any stream I have ever seen), a so called braided stream for which the South Island is known. Basically it’s a very wide shallow riverbed with numerous small channels that all join together in heavy rainfall just leaving lots of little islands. Next is the iconic Arthur’s Pass, at 920 metres, with dramatic scenery. By this time it was really chucking it down so neither of us felt like venturing outside for a walk. Finally you pass through Otira Gorge. A very narrow and winding gorge. We stopped at a viewpoint and Sid got attacked by Keas. These are mountain parrots that seem to like jumping on vehicles and trying to pick at exposed parts such as windscreen wipers. I have to admit I was a little disappointed (not in the keas) as the books all hype the pass up to be fantastic. Maybe the Andes have spoilt me. Or maybe it was the rain, which I may have to get used to as the west coast is known for its very heavy rain showers (they have 2575mm rain a year).

Just outside Greymouth Peter visited an old mine site with suspension bridge.

We finally arrived in Greymouth on the west coast just in time for Peter to go on a brewery tour of Monteiths which dates back to 1868. The tour ends with the usual tasting of beers.