Nelson to Picton

Our last day on the South Island! We left Nelson to drive along the Queen Charlotte Drive beside the Pelorous Sound, passing through Havelock home of New Zealand Green Lipped mussels.

Picton is at the head of The Queen Carlotte Sound. The ferry leaves here for Wellington, taking an hour to exit the Sound before heading out into The Cook Straight. The scenery can only be described as a cross between the West Coast of Scotland and the Norwegian Fjords. Havelock is the home to the famous Marlborough mail boat run, this is the mail delivery service to remote homes and inlets accessible only by water. Trampers (walkers) catch the mail boat out to campsites and hike along the Queen Charlotte Hiking Trail. The sailing here looks wonderful - you could sail for days without coming across another person let alone another boat!

I have included a link to the Marlborough Sound info site http://www.destinationmarlborough.com/

Abel Tasman National Park

Abel Tasman National Park

Nelson is the gateway to The Abel Tasman Park on the Northern tip of the South Island, with the final piece of land called Farewell Strip inhabited only by seals and albatrosses. Of all the places that we have been to on our journey so far Nelson is the one place where I would really like to settle. The town is a mixture of quaint old buildings mixed in with modern, Saturday sees the town hosting a regular market for local products - a great place to have breakfast!

Today we drove north up the coast into the Park along Highway 60 which hugs the coast up to Marahau where the road turns into a single lane road for another 90kms or so. We stopped off for lunch at a small place called Kaiteriteri which is situated in a stunning bay surrounded by Rimu forests and emerald sea. The beaches are stunning white sands littered with sea shells and drift wood. We all agreed that it felt like being in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean - only better!

Kaiteriteri is the starting point for the Abel Tasman Sea Shuttle, this takes backpackers and local residents out to bays and inlets that are only accessible by sea. We are surprised by the amount of people that live in these way off places, everyone seems quite happy to leave their cars in lock ups on the quay sides and take off on their boats into the back of beyond. Ok if you like solitude and NO internet!

We came across a small helicopter hauling driftwood off the beach – couldn’t quite fathom out why they were using a helicopter but he seemed to be having fun. Beats pushing a wheelbarrow up to the local woods I guess!

Blenheim to Nelson

Today we drove north up over the mountains to Nelson leaving the vineyards behind us. Not many photo ops today as it was misty up in the hills but hopefully we will get some tommorrow as we head up to the Tasman Sea.

Nelson is lovely - it has a kind of old world charm about it and loads of yachts! this evening we went for a Japanese meal - talk about a small world! We travel to the other side of the world, drive 100kms out to a remote town - go into a Japanese resturant only to be served by Bernadette from Launceston in Cornwall! Spent most of her life in Plymouth!

Will update more tommorrow - Robb is kicking me off the laptop as he wants to talk to Heather!

Christchurch to Blenheim

We left Christchurch this morning for a 350 km drive North along the East Coast of the South Island.

We left Christchurch on the flat lands surrounded by the Southern Alps and head North up Highway 1 - well they call it a highway but to be honest its only like a UK A road - but with no traffic! When you come across a bridge it's only one lane across, so you have to wait for what ever is at the bridge first.

Our first stop was at Kiacora, this is well known for Whale and Albatross sight seeing. Well we didn't see either but we did come across a colony of seals lounging on the rocks. They didn't mind Robb getting in amongst them for a photo session – in fact it even appears that they were quite happy to pose for the camera.

As we came closer to Blenheim we entered the famous vineyards of Marlborough, I'm sure that most of you at one point or another will have drunk wines from this area. Our 'home' for tonight is a lodge in the middle of a vineyard with views up into the Marlborough Hills. It's quite cold here tonight, there’s snow on the hills up here and it feels cold enough to snow, yet other days with us further south it has been warmer.

I'm still trying to get my head round the directions here! In the Northern Hemisphere I have a really good sense of direction, but since arriving 'upside-down' it's gone to rats! Still can't get used to the sun being in the North - I would make a cr*p homing pigeon down here!

Photo's will come tomorrow - the internet here is driven by 'roaches'!

Arthur's Pass

Ok - so just when you think that the scenery can't get any better it goes and bites you on the bum!

Today we went up to Arthur's Pass which is North of Christchurch nearly 4,000 feet up into the Southern Alps. This is where lots of Lord of the Rings was filmed - but then where ever you go in NZ most of it has appeared in Lord of the Rings Trilogy at some point. The forecasted snow was just sleet and only lasted for a few minutes. It took us 3 hours to drive up to Arthur's Pass, which is a one horse township, if you have ever seen Northern Exposure - you've seen Arthur's Pass!

In NZ they have a wild parrot called a Kea - supposedly an elusive little b*gger! Well as you can see we came across several in Arthur's Pass sabotaging people's cars! If you've seen raccoons rumaging in bins then just transpose them to big parrots the size of chickens and you have the Kea. Upon leaving the cafe after lunch Nigel fixed some left over chips to the roof of Mike's car - unfortunately they had all done a runner - but the chips didn't despite a 3 hour drive, sleet and driving rain the chips remain!

Hanmer Springs

Wow - Just when I thought that it couldn't get any better!

Well we have arrived in Christchurch on the South Island. I thought that the North Island was awesome but as Robb promised the scenery in the South Island surpasses even that. I can not even beging to explain how beautiful this place is - the photo's and my descriptions can not do this place justice.

Today we drove up to Hanmer Springs in the Southern Alps. When you first leave Christchurch you drive through the vineyards, we came across several wines that we have drunk over the years.

We started our day off with a Jet Boat ride through 'Thrill Seekers Canyon' - and yes it did live up to it's name! We were doing 90kms an hour through narrow gorges with inches to spare between us and the canyon walls, with the odd 360* turn thrown in. Sitting in the front was pretty awesome, especially whenn you can see the walls of the gorge looming up in front of you wondering when the heck you are going to turn!

After all that it was a relief to soak in the sulphor springs at Hanmer. Water comes up from underground in a series of pools that you can soak in - what a relief after the bone crunching of the boat ride. Reeks of sulphor though but clears the sinuses!

Tommorrow we are hoping to go up through Arthurs Pass in the Southern Alps, but tonight they have forecast snow - so we shall wait to see what the morning brings!

Gravity Canyon

Sunday 20th September

Sunday we drove 3 hours up to Gravity Canyon to do the Flying Fox and Bungee jump. Gravity Canyon is in the area of NZ where they filmed Middle Earth for Lord of the Rings - the scenery is awesome - no it wasn't digied - it really is that awesome!

Gravity Canyon is 300 feet deep and the Flying Fox is a wire that is suspended above the canyon with an aerial runway along it 300 feet high. This is where you can also Bungee Jump, Jame sand Chris did the tandem jump which is the highest tandem swing in the world (80m), Robb has already done a bungee so he gave it a miss this time. Nigel and I didn't do it this time but we are going to do it when Ben and Sonia are out in November.

I have included a clip of the boys doing the Flying Fox. Tommorrow we are off to Christchurch for a few days - will send photo's!

Just a few words to the guys who are graduating tommorrow - I will be thinking of you and will be expecting loads of photo's! AS wishes she was there with you - I will be thinking about you!