South Island Part One

We made it across Cook Straight from Wellington to Picton without either of us being ill which was either because of the ginger sea sickness tablets we took, or because it wasn't half as choppy as we were told to expect. It was very grey and wet which rather spoiled the voyage through Queen Charlotte Sound which is supposed to be a great highlight. Graham did take a few pictures and with a bit of imagination it's not difficult to see how beautiful it is.

The following morning we woke up to blue skies and found that the world in Picton was a very different place. We took a stroll around the harbour and called in at a supermarket before heading off across South Island to Westport.

 

We had a long drive ahead (285 km) through the mountains and in a campervan this takes quite a while and requires plenty of stops. The first town we went through was Blenheim, named by the Duke of Marlborough who gave his name to the whole district. This is where all that lovely wine comes from, and the drive through the vineyards nestling at the foot of the mountains was quite spectacular.

We left the vineyards behind and climbed up to the alpine village of St Arnaud where we stopped by the lake for lunch, which the ducks were very interested in!

Graham posed for this photo by the lake, as you can tell, and Facebook friends and family have suggested he might be modelling for something....

The journey went on and on, though in places is was quite spectacular!

We eventually made our way to Westport, only to find that the Top 10 camp site we had planned to stay on was way out of town. Having decided we wanted to eat out, we 'slummed' it in a Kiwi site which was much more convenient, but nothing like as nice. We had a good meal out and sampled some of the locally brewed beer, of which there is no shortage in NZ! Problem is, it's ALL served chilled which is ok for the lagers, but doesn't do the ales much good! An early night and a short drive the next day was called for.