Just a quick note, the blog is running a few days behind “real time”, as internet is not as easily accessible as I had hoped. The blog is being written each night, and is uploaded when I can get the WiFi going.
No rush to get moving this morning. We have found that motels invariably have kitchenettes in them, so in the interest of keeping additional inches off the waste line by forgoing a cooked breakfast every morning and keeping the $$ flow under control (NZ isn’t quite as bad as the Cooks, but it is still more expensive than Canada) we just make some toast and coffee. After breakfast we headed out for a walk through the marina and along the edge of the inlet. There was a large cruise ship in port, which may explain why the Saturday market was open on Tuesday! We didn’t escape unscathed as Lyn found something to buy.
Back at the hotel we packed up and checked out. We liked it so much we have booked our last night in the South Island there before we go back on the ferry at the end of the month. We took the scenic route out of Picton to Nelson. Even though there were rain showers the scenery was stunning, it was like the Scottish Highlands on steroids. The roads were fun to drive, not much traffic and numerous hairpin bends. We stopped in the town of Havelock for a coffee; unfortunately it was at a bakery so the breakfast theory bit the dust. It seems you can’t get a drip coffee a la Timmies over here, they all come from those hissing frothing machines.
I am having one major problem with the car, the indicator and wiper stalks are on the opposite side of the steering wheel compared to Canadian vehicles. I can’t count the number of times I have indicated at turns and roundabouts and the wipers came on instead of the flashers. For some reason the locals don’t understand the concept of indicating with wipers, but they are too polite to complain.
After Havelock we went looking for a 3.2km zip-line ride, but it wasn’t there. Not sure what happened to it, but we finished up at a place called Cable Bay, at the end of an 8km ¾ track lane, the other 1¼ tracks appeared to have succumbed to wash outs. The place was given its name as it was the point at which the first undersea communications cable came ashore from Australia in 1896.
We carried on to Nelson and booked into our motel for two nights, we made some lunch and then went off to the Founders Park. This is an area that has a collection of old buildings that have been donated and transported to, and a small working village has been created similar to Upper Canada Village.
Changing tack slightly, back in the 50’s and 60’s in the UK, there used to an air ferry service from Lydd to France using Bristol Freighter aircraft. I thought all these aircraft had long since been destroyed, since we have been here we have seen 3 of them, admittedly not in flying condition, but still recognisable.
After the village we headed into the town of Nelson to scout out a dinner venue, unfortunately we discovered another quilt store; suffice it to say Lyn has yet another project.
Back to the hotel, Lyn headed off to the laundry, and I sat and watched the planes! We are about 1km from the end of the runway and 200m metres off the centreline, bliss!!
Dinner tonight was a very classy affair, takeout pizza and Gin and Tonic drunk out of coffee mugs.