Life on the road...

Being in NZ’s capital gave us an opportunity to experience some city life once again and we headed out for a few bevies on a Wild Wednesday in Wellington! Another city added to the ‘I could defiantly live here, Jesus NZ is amazing!’ list.

With a day to explore Welly before our ferry south, we started by watching the NZI Rugby Sevens parade with adequate cheering for the boys in white, and booing for the sheep-loving boys in red! With cool freebies and chocolate galore (even with the injuries gained getting them) it was well worth it and also provided a free lunch for our day wander. Wellington is by far the most cityish of the cities we have visited for far with a lot of ‘suits’ walking around, but compared to London Town the pace was somewhat slower to say the least. Excellent converted docks also provided some tranquillity and shelter from the notorious Wellington wind. With evening approaching and another night in the car looming we headed for a free open-air film showing of the NZ comedy ‘Eagle vs Shark’ with about another 500 others who had the same idea. It turned out to be hilarious, definitely worth a watch, and a great way to finish off and incredible 13 days in North Island.

7.30am what a lovely time have ferry crossing....made even better by thick fog and no views, great.....This was made somewhat amusing to see ‘The Pride of Cherbourg’ on the side of the ferry and a ‘Made in Portsmouth’ sign underneath....Thankfully we were heading to South Island and not Northern France! Luckily, by the time we reached the picturesque Marlborough Sounds the fog and tiredness had cleared and we were treated to some spectacular views as the ferry docked into Picton. Yet another change of plans meant we headed straight for Abel Tasman NP, on route completing something we have wanted to do for a while now....pick up hitchhikers! Unfortunately they were German and smelt pretty bad, but it was great fun and ticked a vital travelling box.

After much deliberation we decided to spend our day at Abel Tasman NP, which has no roads, with an AquaTaxi to the centre of the park (Bark’s Bay) and 20km stroll back to the car. The taxi ride provided an excellent perspective of the park from the water at a fairly high rate of knots! We then undertook a redonkulously scenic walk around the golden bays of the National Park with a half-time eat, dip and swim at the beautiful Anchorage Bay with around 25 crazy Thai people posing for some hilarious photos. Abel Tasman, tick.

Night 5 in the car was spent in the Picton/Blenheim area, starting to get bored of this! But we decided what better to do on a Sunday morning at 11am than do some wine tasting around the famous vineyards of Marlborough. Two vineyards and a legal limitish amount of Pinot Gris later, we got back in the car and drove down the coast hugging SH1 towards Kaikoura, stopping only to watch some Fur Seals enjoying the almighty power of the South Pacific Ocean.

P.S Some points of note:

We have so far seen far more cows than sheep!?!

Also, we have met far more ‘real-life’ Germans than local New Zealanders!?! All very strange....