We left lovely Picton on a sunny morning and enjoyed the ferry cruise through the Marlborough Sound, although there were no sitings of dolphins or whales. We thought as we were going north it should be getting warmer but we arrived in a cloudy and very windy Wellington. Wellington is known as the Windy City so it kept up its reputation. We did a quick visit to the famous Te Papa Museum as it is the place to visit. Although there were some good exhibitions the hu...

It was nice to stay in one place for a day. As Picton is the ferry terminal most people don't stay here very long but I can assure you it's not anything like Dover or Southampton, it has palm fringed beach front gardens and a picturesque yacht harbour. We wondered into town and managed to find a free wifi spot so Graham could do some geocaches on our walk also managed to FaceTime Sarah and Duncan while they were at a party!We decided to do the planned w...

We woke to blue skies, so it was breakfast outside as usual. Our cycle ride this morning started at the airport where the bike hire shop was based and it is on a newly formed trail which goes along the coast. Cycling in NZ doesn't seem quite as popular as UK although you find a few long distance cyclists on the road with all their kit and there are a few mountain bike tracks but this purpose built cycle way round the coast seemed ideal as it was flat. It wen...

We set off early on our walk in the Abel Tasman National Park. The park has beautiful golden beaches and turquoise waters but it wasn't until late morning when the sun appeared that the colours were seen at their best. The serious walkers on the path were trekking for 3 or 4 days and carrying all their kit on their backs . There are camping huts on the route but they don't provide cooking essentials or bedding. We had a few stops on the lovely beaches whe...

Woke to a few raindrops on the windows (the first since we left the UK) but not to worry the rain had stopped and a bit cloudy so we had breakfast in the van. It's quite amusing watching the activities of other campers and this morning we watched a man disappear into the gents with his book! So I had to time him - 12mins. We tried to find a river path for a morning run but it seemed to disappear, so a fairly short run.We headed to the north coast with the us...