We arose got ready, had some toast then headed off to the viewpoint we had visited yesterday, thankfully today the mist had lifted and we got to see the peninsula and Kaikoura mountain range. We had decided to do a hike up a local mountain as we had been told by the tourist information place it was an easy track walk and took 3 hours to get up. Since the map we had been given wasn't very clear we thought we would nip back into the same tourist information place to double check where it started from. The kind lady gave us a new map that wasn't any more clear, and she pointed to the area. She then said it was a 5 hour hike to the top……. I know we are in a country with lots of earthquakes but I thought that was pretty impressive that the mountain had rose an extra 2 hour walk overnight. We decided to drive to the bottom of it anyway to have a look, but after getting lost and driving along some 4x4 roads, we deciding that probably wasn't the best idea and a much better idea would be to head on to Blenheim and visit some local vine yards. On the way out of Kaikoura we stopped at a hut selling freshly caught that morning crayfish (NZ Lobster), I just had to try some so bought one, it was very tasty, Rachel even said it wasn't to bad and had a couple of bits.

After a couple of hours drive with a short stop at the seal viewing place again to see the baby seals we arrived at our first winery. We nipped in and I had a few tasters, while Rachel enjoyed the smell, guess who drew the short straw . We carried on our way driving through the town and out the other side, then into the countryside a bit before we got to another that took our fancy. After a look around a little crafts and food tasting shop, which did some tasty jams and sauces we headed over to the winery. This one was a bit annoying as you had to pay $3 to try, so I paid, then it turned out they only had 4 wines you could try and 3 of them were white. I was not impressed so after trying the Merlot, I asked if I could try some of the Pinot Noir, which wasn't listed on the samples sheet, she paused for a bit, then said ok but don't tell anyone and went off to get a bottle. It was very tasty, but still not good enough to tempt me to buy a bottle so we headed off again.

We came to a chocolate factory next, we had a walk around and there was a massive tour group in there so we managed to get a few free samples, which they were being handed. We then headed onwards to one last brewery for a taster before continuing on. As we were on the drive away I read a leaflet saying there was a fudge factory which we had missed, Rachel quickly changed direction and headed that way. When we arrived it was like a little village of free tasting, first we had a look at a sauces and pickles shop and tried all sorts of things including very tasty Honey Mustard. I recommend everybody to stir some honey in their mustard this dinner time. We then headed over to the fudge place and tried a few samples, mmmmmmmm. We finally caved and spent some money buying some sticky toffee date fudge, then as we were about to walk out the door we saw they did the very tasty New Zealand ice cream, which we had to try, so Rachel got strawberries and cream and I got the most delicious ice cream ever; Chilli Chocolate and Raspberry, DELICIOUS. We then popped into the winery at the centre for a couple last tastes before actually getting back on the road.

We arrived at Picton around 4:30 and quickly dashed into the tourist information to find out the weather for the next day and the best place to stay. We then headed to a place where you could book Dolphin swims from, after chatting to the guy and watching a short video, we were hooked and booked ourselves onto the tour. We then headed to the campsite checked in, then spent the evening cooking and planning the next couple of weeks.