MATT: A painless, scenic ferry crossing to Picton, a nice (250km) drive to Nelson where we arrive as the sun is setting into one of the most pretty bays we have been to yet and we get to the campsite which is one of the nicest most relaxed so far - run by an extremely chilled guy and close to some of the sights in town. We end up staying a couple of nights - one of which we had the most amazing lamb and mint burger bbq - which had all the other campers salivating.

Our day in Nelson included a trip to the cathedral (designed by a Scot), a vist to the jeweller that made the actual ring for the movie, a wee street of original Kiwi settlers houses from the 1800's, and a walk to "the centre of New Zealand" which is located at the top of a hill next to the town. The views from the top are really breathtaking...the bays around Napier some of the most amazing sights so far.

We were even entertained by some of the local kids listening to death metal at about a million decibels above the park as we ate our dinner.

On our way from Nelson to our nest stop we visited Happy Valley and New Zealand's largest flying fox. It involves a dodgy van ride up a mountain path to the top of a mountain valley which has a massive chairlift thing suspended through the valley. There are four of us sat in the chairs (a really nice and slightly mental, middle aged ozzie couple) which are then released to plumet (along a steel cable) down through the valley - reaching speeds of about 80kph...this is repeated about 3 times and is a right laugh...but the experience is marred by the worst cup of coffee we have experienced in NZ (which pisses Kel right off).

Afterwards we hit the road again and head around the bay (via a beautiful beach and a kids playpark) to Kaiteriteri and the Abel Tasmin National Park.