Took the lunch time ferry from Wellington to Picton on Monday after trawling the town to find Lolly some ‘Sea legs’!! A local had also recommeded Ginger Beer so once on board we ordered fish and chips and some ginger beer to wash down the spectacular scenery on the cruise out of wellington into the cook straight and entering the Marlborough Sounds to Picton. We then procedded to make the mistake of checking into the seediest and most dodgy camp site for the night in Picton itself, forgetting that everyone had said that is one town on the South Island not to stop in!! The following morning couldnt check out fast enough and I even managed a 4 minute shower as the sign suggested, a new ‘routine’ record!!

Headed to Blenheim which is only 25km away but had been recommended by someone along the way and checked into the Top10 camp site where the hilarious owner couldnt believe wher we had just come from!! More relaxed our ears pricked up when he suggested this was the place to be in New Zealand if we liked wine, and that we could take a tour of the wineries around the Wairau Valley, either by mini bus the following day, or if we couldnt wait that long by hired bike!! Not the sort to hang about we donned cycling gear and rode off to find the grapes.

Along a 12 mile route we called in at 4 different wineries and bought a bottle at three of them and had some awesome food in the restaurant of the other. Needless to say, mountain biking and wine tasting is a weird combination but it works, although the leg home took longer than we thought!! We could nboth get into this wine tasting lark!!

Wedensday we have been over to Havelock, famous for its green shell mussels and originally gold mining. We stopped at the marina for some lunch and another glass of wine at the Slip Inn, would higly recommend it to everyone. After lunch we took the Old Charlotte Sounds road back to Blenheim along the coastline, an amazing drive, stopping off along the way for loads of photos and a couple of short walks. The only problem with this pace so far is that you cant drive more than 500m without wanting to stop and take another photo!!

Sitting in the van now in Motueka (north of the south island), thought we’d catch up for the last few days. We went down to Kaikoura from Blenheim and stopped along the way to see the fur seals on the side of the road! Kaikoura was an awesome little surfing town just coming into season. We had a big night out by accident when we got talking to a couple from London in a pub with there 5 month old daughter Kitty. Laura managed to pour garlic sauce all over me, accident of course!! Managed to see the whales, which Kaikoura is famous for, for free as by chance a mother and baby had entered the bay and whilst we were sitting on the beach wrestling our sarnies from the gulls, we looked out and there they were just rolling around in the bay!! It wasnt long before crowds gathered on the beach as this hasn’t happened apparently for about 30 years!! That saved us about $300, joy!!

On the way back north again we stopped at a sign for a 10 minute walk to a waterfall, recommended by an old couple we had met, we were lucky enough to find two young seal pups who had worked their way up river to play under the waterfall. We whatched them for about half an hour, amazing.

We stopped for two nights by a river at Pelorus Bridge, where the scenery was amazing, as was the ice cream, as too was the rainbow trout a local had caught which once cooked up on his gas stove he shared a bit with us! We could have swum in the river but its still way too cold, although the sun is starting to show itself more frequently.
So now we are in Matueka. Spent the afternoon up north of here in Golden Bay, at Farewell Spit. Beautiful beach with grey sand dunes, hell of a walk out to them though!! On the way back we stopped off at Waikoropupu Springs. Amazing. The water is the clearest we’ve ever seen and supposed to be some of the clearest found from springs outside of the antarctic. Tomorrow we are off to the abel tasman national park, water taxi and another long walk!!

Took a water taxi from kaitieriteri along the coast of the abel tasman national park. We got off at Bark Bay on the way down giving us about 3 hours to walk back to Torrent bay to catch the last taxi boat back. Quite a hard treck but beautiful scnery along the way. Another must for anyone who visits new zealand. You can do a 4 day treck through the park staying overnight at the huts. That night we used the spa at the camp site and had a barbecue and a few beers, not to mention the odd glass of wine with a couple we had met that morning fromn Preston (Mark and Gabby). We had to sit and drink in envy of their posh camper van before trapsing back to trusty old Beryl!!!

We are now in St Arnoud having spent a couple of nights on another D.O.C camp by Lake Roiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park. This is a fantastic spot looking out over the lake surrounded by the mountains, and home to the tamest ducks ever!! Today we hiked up part of Mount Robert and had the best views over the lake. Tomorrow we head to Westport to celebrate Kat and Sebs wedding back home, 12 hours before they do!!!