We met superman!

It was time again to hit the road, and although a little sore from the previous days kayaking we were in good spirits. We first headed to Nelson, the capital of the Marlborough region. The day was a little dull, so after stopping for a coffee and visiting the monuments for Captain Cook and Young Nick we continued east and into the Marlborough Sounds. We decided that we wanted to spend the night at French Pass, which is one of the most northly points of the sounds, still attached to the mainland. The roads and coastline along the route were similar in that they were narrow, jagged, rough and steep, but the views as per usual were stunning. With each twist and turn we found a new view more stunning than the last one. You rise up so high that you can see out to sea, and have a great birds eye view of the type of route the Wellington to Picton ferry takes as it picks its way slowly and cautiosly through the sounds further along the coast. We didn't actually know if there was going to be anywhere to stay when we got to French Pass as it sits about 3-4 hours from anywhere. However when we got there a small DOC site met us at the end of the road, with all but a couple of houses along the harbour making up this quiet little village. We parked up and took a walk along the pebbly beach, the wind was blowing, but the sun was out and just a stones throw away we could see D'urville Island. The island named after Jules Dumont D'urville a French explorer who in 1827 first discovered the narrow strait now called French Pass. The Island, which sits at one side of the pass was named in memory of him by his officers.

Mussel farm

We wandered back onto the campsite to see the Superman Van parked up. The Superman Van was a van we had seen a number of times around the south island on our travels, and had always got excited by it. Painted in Blue and Red with the Superman logo on it, it is the small things which keep your spirits up at times. We got chatting to the owner (Superman) after commenting on his van and how we had seen him flying all over the island!!. We spent the rest of the evening talking to Superman, a set builder for films in Australia and gold digger in his spare time, about films, how beautiful NZ was, gold digging, wildlife and Australia, the next country on our travels. We watched the sun set, sank a couple of bottle of wine, saw a dolphin playing the bay and watched the comical birds trying to pick up any scraps we had left behind. The setting of French Pass was perfect and the evening was really chilled. It wasn't late when we turned in, but it was when the wind and rain started to howl and rock the van. The following morning, Superman came to say good bye earlydoors. We packed up and hit the road, we had 1 full day left before our ferry back to to the north island and still had things to see.

Marlborough Sound

Marlborough Sound 2

French Pass bay

French Pass village

Taking a dip

Dolphin

Dolphin 2

Cheeky scavenger

Sunset

Choppy water next day