South Island NZ Countdown

Day 16 - Everyone must be getting tired of this step by step holiday. We are just about ready to go home too. Yes there are lots of things that we haven't seen; it's just time to get back to normal again. Sorry for the inundation of blog updates, internet is scarce and what we do get, Glen uses for business - making sure we still have a home to go back too. As you can tell, we did manage to crawl out of bed today and surprisingly we both feel pretty good, at least we can move! All of NZ South Island is beautiful; I would recommend this country as a holiday destination to anybody. Today we road trip it from Marahau through Nelson, along the Queen Charlotte Drive, Picton and finish in Blenheim, the heart of Marlborough Country (Wine, not cigarettes). Today we've seen lots more hills, windy roads, glistening rivers and probably the best ocean bays for anchoring a boat in, that we have seen since Canada. We stopped in Havelock for a lunch of NZ's famous green lipped mussels at the Mussel Pot (yummy!). Havelock is the birth place of this lucrative aquatic culture. Our camp site is Blenheim, under a bridge, by a river - the bridge is highway #1! This will be just like sleeping in the truck stops during our racing days.

 

Day 17 - When in wine country, do as the winos do! So many wineries, so little time. Taste testing is FREE (every wino's dream). Needless to say, our camper van is now weighted down with 4 more cases of wonderful NZ wine. Typically, Glen and I don't drink white wine, but the taste test ladies are always so disappointed when you say no to it that we finally started to say O.K. to testing some white wine. Wow! Big surprise! This area is world re-known for it's Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris - they are truly fantastic. One of the trendy new tourist activities here is to rent bicycles and ride from cellar door to cellar door - easy enough to do. This gets you out of the crush of a tour group in a bus or van and keeps you off of the hook for drinking and driving. Maybe next time!

 

Day 18 - It's 8:00am and we are sitting in the line up to catch the Inter Islander Ferry from Picton on the South Island to Wellington on the North Island. It is another nice sunny day. Where were all of these kind of days when we on the West Coast?  On board the ferry, we take our final photos of the receding South Island. It has truly been grand. One thing we have noticed and liked about the S.I. is that ALL of the towns/cities have a Main Street, and that is "down town", everything that place has to offer is right there. Old fashioned, but endearing. So now we have three hours on the ferry to figure out where we are going to go in the three days we have left, before we have to have the camper delivered in Auckland. We change our minds three times as to whether we will go up the east coast through more wine country or the west coast and more wilderness (semi wilderness - as the North Island holds 3/4 of the NZ population - so there are more people everywhere). Believe it or not, we have had enough wine for now and head up the west coast. It is a little bit of a culture shock having to drive through all of the suburbs just to get out of Wellington and into the country. North Island is a great place too, lots to see and do. We stop in Wanganui for the night and will explore it more fully tomorrow. Four little sheep are our neighbors tonight as the camp site is by an acreage area and backs onto the Wanganui River ($6.00 extra for a river spot).