Bellbird Lodge South Island

... yummy one I’d never heard of. We didn’t spit any wine out as it seemed a bit rude but the key to civilised consumption seemed to be to each taste a different wine, then swap glasses, cleverly halving the volume without wasting a drop. As the area is famed for it’s Sauvignon Blanc, a bottle went into the saddle bag, followed by a Te Whare Ra Toru, only because you can’t buy it in the UK ...

... estate, but we pretty much knew their wines well anyway and it all felt very corporate so we moved on. We drove onto Blenheim for a nose around, it was larger than I expected it to be and not as quaint as Renwick. We took a walk around the gardens where the tulips had started to bloom and then made an important stop at a supermarket to stock up on a selection of cheeses to accompany our new supply of wine.

... the next few days we drove around the Marlborough Sounds which are very picturesque bays surrounded by mountains, and we stopped for lunch and camped wherever we wanted. We then drove over to Nelson which is the oldest recorded town in NZ. Zoe had to buy a hat as its getting colder!

We then headed back along the cost to Kaikoura.

... of it again!

Headed over to Wellington on the Interislander ferry on the Thursday. Luckily was a gloriously sunny day so had a smooth three hour cruise over. Have to laugh all the interislander ferries are second hand cross channel ferries that used to live in Portsmouth! The journey out of the sounds is magical, but feels slightly incongrious in a huge cross channel ferry. Its a bit like trying to sail a ferry down the Thames, it looks a bit wierd and out of place!

... pulled in to take us back to civilisation.

On the way back, the taxi did however stop at one of the local salmon farms in the sound to point out the seals. The farms have a real problem with seals eating the stock; they have spent a small fortune trying to keep the seals out of the pens though it seems to no avail. They have tried capturing, tagging and transporting the seals to the south of the island, thatīs about 900km away, only ...

... at dinner. I have decided that if I win the lottery I am going to buy a vineyard.

The next day we woke up to brilliant sunshine and clear blue sky so we decided to drive Queen Charlotte Drive again because it was misty last time. We drove to Havelock, which David enjoyed on the twisty roads, and then came back slowly, stopping at all the viewpoints. We went for a short walk around the top of a hill to see over Havelock and Pelorus Sound. It was ...

... cestou jsme se kochali vyhledem na Queen Charlotte Sound a Cook Straight. Z Jizniho ostrova se nam ale vubec nechtelo, moc se nam tu libilo a opousteli jsme ho s tezkym srdcem. Zaroven jsme ale byli plni ocekavani co se tykalo Severniho ostrova a uz tehdy jsme vazne zacali uvazovat o tom, ze si nas pobyt na NZ o tyden prodlouzime. Na Jiznim ostrove jsme totiz stravili mnohem vice casu, nez jsme si puvodne naplanovali, ale rozhodne toho nelitujem. :-)

... von dem Track. Natuerlich ist es ein sehr schoene Track, aber er erinnert mich an Europa. Recht bevoelkert die Wanderwege und touristisch ziemlich erschlossen, die ganze Kueste ist voller Haeuser (und zwar auf beiden Seiten der Berge, sowohl der Queen Charlotte Sound als auch der Kenpuru Sound). Gruss Ralf P.S. Fun Fact The Edwin Fox stored in Picton is the ninth-oldest wooden ship in the world, dating from 1853.

It took us all morning to drive from Hanmer Springs to the ferry at Picton. It was only 390 Km but the road was very twisted and much if the trip was under 60km/h We had to be at the ferry at 12:45 and we arrived in Picton at 12:35. We just made it. The crossing was uneventful and I slept most of the way ...

... when we see strange people passing...they might understand us! ;-) Alot of the German backapckers we met, they stay here for a year or longer, work and travel... well, more travel than work... most of them quit there job and most of them were "fired" by their bosses, so now we know, how on earth everyone seems to be able to afford a leisure life like this for more than a few months... !! aha! One girl was telling us that she was fired by her boss and now she is able ...