Travelling south to meet the ferry in Wellington and you guessed it, decided to have breakfast by the beach, unfortunately the beach we picked was a 20k detour over some rough roads and a number of hills! Consolation was that we found the beach (Ocean Beach) to be a gorgeous, isolated, sandy bay which we had more or less to ourselves …. Soon scared the randoms off! BLT's and coffee on the beach can't beat it.

On the journey south to Martinborough we travelled right through the middle of the Island with ranges either side. Really strange as one side was covered in cloud and the other in sunshine. Noticed that a range to the East has claim to a town with the world's longest name (sorry Til it pipped Wales to the post!). The town is called:

Tuamatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

And of course it means: The place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who sailed all around the land, played his nose flute to his loved one!

The further south we got the windier it got and by the time we arrived in Martinborough (reportedly 100kmh) Sue was really concerned that we were in Hurricane alley!

Martinborough is really quaint and interestingly it was designed so that its main square looked just as the union jack with its main roads emanating from the centre.

Walked into town battling against the wind - went to the Puke inn (!) and met a great couple just back from 'sorting the sheep' and they pointed us in the right direction for some great grub with some really welcoming locals.

Martinborough promotes itself as a great wine region with some 34 wineries around the town and …… no we did not try each one - in fact we didn't have time to go to any of the wineries and perhaps our only regret is that we didn't spend more time in this town.

Next stop Wellington.