It rained all night and continued all morning, after more shopping (Sue has fully recovered) we set off across the Island to the west coast through the Lewis pass. Initially the clouds and rain obscured everything but after lunch the sun came out and we had a lovely drive through beautiful scenery. We are now staying in Hokitika by a beach covered in amazing drift wood. There is so much you could set up your own gallery for life.

This is the albertrose.

Blenheim is in Marlborough, one of the wine regions of New Zealand. We considered taking a 1/2 day wine tour but decided to just visit one winery ourselves. Sue was driving so I sampled the 8 wines offered and was happy to snooze all the way to Kaikoura. Here we booked a whale watching boat and were rewarded with close ups of a hump back whale and an adolescent wandering albertrose. This had grey wings which will become white with the sun over time. The sea was r...

We went to Nelson this morning, which is a pretty town on the NE coast. Sue who has not been near shops for two weeks, fell upon the shopping district like a starving man with a bowl of chips. After a while, I managed to drag her away to the Sutter Art galley. This was small but interesting and Sue having restored her shopping skills bought several items at the shop. We then travelled back to the North East Coast to Blenheim. This was another lovely site wit...

We were up before 7 this morning in order to be at the ferry terminal to get the 9o'clock ferry to Picton on the South Island. This was a big ferry holding 1600 people,their cars, camper vans, trailers and lorries. The wind was still fierce and no sooner had we left the quay than the captain announced it would be rough for the early part of the journey. As we exited the harbour into the Cook straits, the sea was breaking with enormous 20 foot waves. These came ...