South day 8
Another beautiful sunny day. Left Picton after stopping at The Village Bakery for French bread and Danish pastries. South then West along the Awatere Valley. We stopped at Havelock marina at The Slip Inn where we had mussels (what else).…
South day 7
A beautiful winter day in Marlborough, cold but sunny. After breakfast we set out for The Snout, a longish walk along a steadily narrowing bush-clad ridge overlooking Queen Charlotte Sound. Great views but it was our first long walk for…
South day 6
Early start to the ferry now waiting to board. Fishing dudes say it’s lovely and flat out there. Yeah right. Turns out to be a lovely day but I took a cabin anyway so we slept most of it. Nice…
South day 5
Noisy, windy, rainy night interrupted at about 4AM with an outside expedition to fix the power cable plug cover banging on the side of the van. About 4 degrees in Wellington this morning with half a gale blowing. Visited the…
South day 4
Rain, rain, rain. First stop New World to get all the things we weren’t going to have. Wine, beer, cheese, Danish pastries. Off to the ferry but bad weather in Cook Straight so canceled. Decided to head out to Martinborough,…
South Day 3
Uneventful start, Ohakune Top Ten facilities are excellent. First stop Wellington. Evan’s Bay Marina. Finished the evening at the Corner Bar and Cafe, a humble establishment nearby where we watched some of the rugby.
South Day 2
A landscape of senility. We could not get the a/c power to work in the van even after fault testing with a detector. We checked all breakers including one hidden underneath a cupboard after phoning the help line. So we…
South Island Trip Day 1
Breakfast and rain. Heading vaguely in the direction of New Plymouth this morning. Lunch at Piopio. Afternoon tea somewhere in Taranaki. That’s the Elephant Rock in the distance. And so to New Plymouth, a town I first visited in 1979…