Best Western Koromiko Motel Picton

... where all the Montana wine we get back home is grown plus a couple of hundred other sauvignon blancs. Wine tour was a riot - six of us plus a driver getting steadily more drunk as the afternoon wore on. The wine was incredibly good, just a shame can't ship it back to the UK cheaply costs about $150 just for shipping! Most of the wine we tasted can only be bought in restaurants in the Uk e.g. Gordon Ramsay so suffice to say I'll be waiting a long time before sampling ...

... snow-capped mountains I can't resist but nevertheless I reached my destination in a couple of hours. I found a very nice and reasonable place to stay the Spa Lodge Motel, the best accommodation I have had yet and no more expensive, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and lounge what luxury, with all due respect to the backpackers I have stayed at, I appreciated my own space sometimes.

Hanmer Springs is well known mainly because of its hot pools, after exploring around ...

... we had a nice relaxing afternoon at another lodge, nearly as nice as the night before and lovely owners that only had organic fruit and veg., and today we are at a rather posh place with gourmet restaurant and all. So far the walk has been fantastic, the scenery is stunning as we have walked from the outer bit of Marlborough Sounds to Picton where the ferry arrived. Long long walk, but so worth it! Tomorrow we have ...

... walking was more demanding. The route was farily twisting but we had plenty of time for long stops. 23 March - We decided to walk a one day section of the Queen Charlotte track, from nearby Torea Saddle to Mistletoe Bay. This is the highest point of the ridge and it did offer some great views of both Kenepuru Sound and Queen Charlotte Sound. The Sounds are simply delightful with many bays (and dwellings) only accessible by boat. The sea was a beautiful pale blue and there were lots of ...

EN:
Marlborough region produces our favorite New Zealand white wines - the Sauvignon Blanc is particularly good - so it was a shame we didn't have much time there as we arrived in the area on the day before we were to leave South Island. We got there in the middle of the afternoon and still had time to make a few sightseeing stops along the Marlborough Sounds before we settled for the night on a waterfront spot at a caravan park on the Queen ...

... cost us dozens of bites on each leg despite gooping on repellent. Those two dozen bites were an agony of tortuous itching for the next week along with all the other new bites we both picked up in the ensuing days. We climbed so many steep hills and mountains that it makes our legs numb to think about it. We averaged about 3000 feet a day...nearly 100,000 feet of climbing for both countries. NZ especially is a very hilly and mountainous place...which of course ...

... What beautiful scenery we had, lots of fresh snow on all the trees, and grass. Boys stopped for a while to build play - just after we passed another family playing on the road just over a blind hill and bend - lucky Helen didn't drive over them!!

We couldīnt wait to get to the south island. We were saying that the landscapes in teh north island were pretty amazing but everyone we met was saying wait until we get to the south island and holy god amighty were they right. We had pretty good weather for the majority of the month or so we spent here apart from teh first few days when we were over around Abel Tasman Park. It looks amazing in the postcards and posters you see in the shops but on the ...

... by Luc's family about 10 years ago. Kate gave me a tour of the vineyard and then we ate dinner with Luc's brother, Ben, his wife Deidra (sp?), and one of their son's, Oliver (their other son, Suede, had gone to bed). Unfortunately Luc was unable to join us because he was bottling at Indevin. I had a great time; good food, good wine, good company : )

... re-bedded the back of the van, so when we found somewhere to stop, we could just clamber straight into bed. A very short distance from the port, up a dark winding hill, were a few little laybys, some of which already populated by dozing motorists. When we woke up, we realised we could see the ferries in the harbour, and hear the clatter and bang of the stevedores. To be honest, getting a good night's ...