It was Saturday 4 September and we were off on a shuttle bus to get the 10:25am ferry to Picton (South Island). During the ride, we watched the news on the Christchurch earthquake and they confirmed that a state of emergency had been imposed. The last 20 minutes of the boat journey was stunning as we entered a waterway known as Queen
Charlotte Sound. When we arrived at Picton It was again confirmed to us that the scenic train was not running to Christchurch but a bus replacement service was in place instead. There were still loads of aftershocks so we decided to change our plans and jump on the Magic Bus from Picton port to Nelson instead (travelling anti-clockwise rather than clockwise towards the earthquake zone). We were disappointed as we were looking forward to the scenic rail journey recommended in many travel books and a must thing to do in New Zealand. There is however a better train journey, rated as one of the best in the world, across the South Island (between Greymouth and Christchurch so we will try to fit this into our schedule).

Like the last part of our boat journey, the transfer to Nelson was truly stunning with mountains on both sides. The skies were blue with no clouds to be seen so a truly welcoming sight to the South Island. First impressions were that the South Island looked prettier than the North Island.

En-route we stopped off at a small town called Havelock......only to use the toilet though! With no toilets on the coach these stops are a must. Havelock is known for its amazing mussels! As we don't like mussels we gave them a miss.

Our bus driver was very friendly and helpful and suggested that we stay at "Accents in the Park" which is a backpacker hostel instead of the normal YHA we have been staying at lately. We took up his suggestion and are glad we did as it proved to be a really clean place with shared bathrooms, lounge and a kitchen. The only thing was that we had a really drippy man on reception that everytime we asked him something he looked at us as if we had 3 heads! He was just like "Tim Nice but Dim" from the Harry Enfield comedy sketches (if you don't know the character use www.YouTube.com and you will get an idea of what we are talking about).

After dumping off our rucksacks, we took a walk into town to buy some food from the supermarket. On entering the supermarket Lisa noticed a supersaver book of vouchers. As everything is so expensive we thought we would use it and pulled out every voucher with a discount that corresponded with our items purchased. We were then told at the till that we needn't have done this as the till knows what items are discounted!!! We looked really stupid but even stupider when we started to pack the food into bags which no one does in Pak n Save hence the checkout assistant was cracking up!! Then Mark walked out
without paying and Lisa had to call him back as he had the money! Luckily we were not arrested!!

After shopping we ventured back to the hostel and stayed in for a quiet night. Unfortunately, it wasn't too quiet as we had a group of lads on a rugby tour across from our room.

The following morning we were taken on a wine tasting tour at 11:30 with a company called "Bay Tours". It turned out to be just three of us (including our driver) as no one else had booked. We visited 4 vineyards in Nelson; Waimea, Seifried, Kahurangi and Woollaston. We tasted 25 glasses of white, rose and red wines and enjoyed lunch at
the Seifried Restaurant. We ended up buying 3 bottles of wine and going back to our hostel slightly drunk where we both fell asleep on our bed!!

Given time schedules, we decided to leave Nelson the following morning, which was a bit of a shame as we really liked this little place. Anyway, onwards to Greymouth by Magic Bus. From what we have read it sounds like a really bland town but we can do a brewery tour there so it's not all bad !!!