Beachcomber Inn Picton

... lied about the gradient, but she was right, it was definately worth all the clay that stuck to literally everything, and the sweat. The views were amazing - one of the prettiest places I've been, probably ever. <br><br>Lesson of the day: when you see a sign that says 'wrong way', you are definitely going the WRONG WAY.

... at least the sea looked fairly calm, seasick tablets were just in case! My memories of the trip back from the Outer Barrier Reef were still quite fresh.<br><br>Apart from my jumping around the various decks to take photos the voyage was fairly calm and really enjoyable going through Charlotte Sound and Marlborough Sound, beautiful and a really blue but very rough sea.<br><br>So I get the map pin set correctly I will continue 'North Island' on a new page - see you soon.

... her accent and suddenly there it was - a Northern Irish accent! From Larne she had moved to NZ 2 years before and lost alot of her accent until I turned up! We laughed about 'that freaky guy' for a while and she had honestly thought we knew eachother and there was nothing dodgy going on until my eyes screamed silently at her! Ha ha, still makes me laugh thinking about it.. but I don't think I'll hitch hike again in any shape or form.

... cat snuggled on the sofa beside it. Here we sampled 4/5 white wines, two reds and a dessert wine. We tried an unusual German white wine, which tasted just like turkish delight. I particularly liked the Pinot Noir, which is their main red variety in this region. Sauvignon Blanc is the main white variety in the region. The dessert wine was delicious too so a bought a bottle. We then went to Villa Maria ...

... and tons of mussels and 11 armed sea stars (just star-fish with 11 arms). We finished off the day with a bike ride around town which culminated in a visit to the local liquor store to buy a bottle of vodka. The evening was spent drinking said vodka in the hot tub- LOL!! Jenn arrived in the evening and had to put up with a drunken Sue and I. : ) The following morning we set off on our roadtrip of the South Island.

... as we were off to Milford Sound itself to do a small boat cruise around the stunning fiord. The two hour cruise takes a leisurely tour along the South side of the Sound, stopping at various waterfalls and features along the way and nosing right up to the Fairy Falls to give everyone outside a good soaking, before turning in the Tasman Sea and returning slowly along the North side. The 200m high Stirling Falls were pretty amazing, but looked tiny next to the 2000m high ...

... throw the black ones away here. He then took us to see a jurassic forest and explained a bit about the different plants here, how old they are etc. He also has some knowledge of the land, the Mauori's that once owned it and it is very interesting to us. He took us to a lovely bay to have some lunch. Luch was a bit late today because we kept having to wait for the Swiss couple. I don't know what was wrong with them, I think they were just determined to be at the back all the way. It didn ...

... bij Farewell Split (door de ontdekker van NZ, Abel Tasman, trouwens "Visscher's Sandhoeck" genoemd) in het Abel<br>Tasman Park. Dat was dicht bij Nelson en daar ging mijn bus heen!<br>Vol goede moed (en een lichte sensatie van adrenaline, want hoeveel mensen krijgen zo'n kans op hun vakantie?) besloot ik eenmaal in Nelson te gaan proberen om op Farewell Split te komen en te helpen met het nathouden en tijdens de vloed terug drijven van de walvissen.