Day 31 Waipapa Bay to Kaikura 32km. Kaikura for breakfast and the difficult decision between whale watching and swimming with dolphins. Opted for the latter. Big mistake. The wind got up. We headed way out to sea in a boat. The sea was too rough to swim, although we did watch the dusky dolphins performing acrobatics (and mating, but not at the same time) for half an hour. At least three different species of albatross circled around, one with the largest wingspan...

Day 30 Picton to Waipapa Bay 127km Picton to Blenheim in torrential rain. Cup of coffee. Still pouring. We went to the aviation museum to see the display of WW1 planes. Now bear with me here. It was torrential, the guide book raved about it and a seemingly sane woman on the boat at Picton told me it was really good. "Not at all what you think it will be like". Sadly, it was a hangar full of lots of old planes. Still, dry and a cafe. Still raining when we left so...

Day 21 and 22. Walking Queen Charlotte trail. 44.5km Combining the days as it was much the same. The Marlborough Sound boasts 25% of New Zealands coastline in it's small space. Billed as beautiful, scenic etc. I'm sure it was. We walked it in a mixture of light drizzle, heavy rain and torrential rain mostly with visibility of a few metres. Warm rain though and I keep hearing about the weather in England so I'm definitely not complaining. And it was great to be...

Day 27 Wellington to Picton 2km Being generous. We probably cycled 1km either end. The ferry did the rest. A large Car ferry chugged it's way from Windy Welly to Sunny Picton, through the scenic Cook Strait. Dolphins in their dozens swam alongside, welcoming us and bringing a smile to our faces. So here we are, in the South Island. Sunny and very pretty. Have decided to walk Queen Charlotte Sound for a couple of days before getting back on the bike. The back...

Day 26 Wellington 0km Day off. From cycling and each other. Not sure we did very different things. But I can now confidently identify the southern cross and find due south. And I know loads about the NZ parliament (and lots more about ours too) after a fascinating tour of the Beehive, NZ parliament building. Interesting facts; the dispatch boxes in the House of Commons were gifts from NZ, the PMs one contains a bible, the opposition one is empty; the Green Pa...