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26/03/17 And that's it! Leaving Picton on the ferry this morning, in the gloom and misty rain. Another great feed in the Premier Plus lounge, baked smoked Salmon and Kumara Rosti as the main course, and sooo much more else. Totally worth it, not only for the refreshments, but for the comfort and lack of crowds. Gloomy and raining in Wellington too, but it came right quickly and is hot and sunny now at Mel's place!

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What a hoot! Tonight we are camped behind the Picton RSA! It's brilliant, level area, quiet, 2 minutes drive to the ferry terminal. Only $6. Plus, we went and had drinks and a feed in their lounge bar! Got some sideways looks from the old boys, but that's ok.

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At the Picton Aquarium, it was a bit naff, because some of the things that I wanted to see or do had already happened, or weren't on any more, such as seeing the giant weta, sea horses, feeding the eels etc. but the manager took pity on me, and gave me a private viewing of the tuatara, and I was allowed to stroke it! It feels so strange, because it's alive you expect it to be warm and squishy, but it's so cold! But quite soft and satiny, not rough feeling at all. Of course seeing the stingray reminded us of our previous experience at Kaiteriteri, tho this one is smaller.

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25/03/17 Last day of our South Island sojourn! Gosh, we've done a fair few kilometers! And seen a fair few sights! Been super lucky with the weather, can't complain. Pretty much over ever hearing a German accent again. And, why do they walk around their campsite for 10 minutes scrubbing at their teeth, hoicking on the ground as they go? So gross, have stepped in a few gobs, not pleasant. It'll be nice to be back in The Wairarapa where we don't have to worry so much about meeting a little rental car driven by Asians on the wrong side of the road. So, seen both sides of touring now, it's totally good for the economy, not so good for us locals. Guess it's the same when we go to their countries. Today we left our campsite amongst said Germans in their tents or little non SC vans, and headed for Picton, just a few hours journey.

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Tonight camped at Tahuna Beach campground. Didn't realise just how busy and spread out this area is, although where our site is is great, super quiet (except for the airport next door, but we're used to that) lovely outlook over the ocean back towards Motueka.

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Drove out the the end of the peninsula before we got to Richmond/Stoke/Nelson to a village called Mapua. There's some old warehouses on the wharf that have been converted into trendy little boutiquey shops and cafes. This horse is made entirely from horse shoes, except for it's mane, which is chain.

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Dilapidated old farm house with a dead tree beside it, very apt. South of Takaka.

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Heading back over the Takaka hill, we came across the Ngarua Caves, one of the more reasonably priced activities that we’ve come across, $20 each for a guided tour. Huge vaulted ceilings like a cathedral, with all these stalactites hanging down, made you feel like you were in a shark’s maw. Glenn has a 20,000 year old Moa bone in his hand.

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24/03/17 Before leaving Golden Bay and Pohara, we took a 15 km trip east to Wainui Bay, and into the bush along the river to these cool falls. It's a DOC area, and really well maintained.

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Decided to head back down the coast towards Nelson, as we need to be aware of getting near Picton soon for our return ferry crossing,and don’t want to be making a mad dash or driving for hours. I made Glenn stop for me to by some goats cheese at a roadside stall at Patons Roark, a quick diversion off the main drag between Collingwood and Takaka. We came across a harbour east of Takaka called Pohara and found four places that we could stay, finally settling on this one at the Tarakohe harbour. Then discovered it’s actually a NZMCA site, so recently opened it isn’t even in the book yet! That’s our Minty in the distance, we are parked directly under those cool limestone rocks, way better than Punakaiki! There is a horde of Maori fellas swarming all over the cool old sailing ship, restoring it. Check out the Maori flag they are flying!

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Here's a pic of Pupu I stole off the net. 😊

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Just north and west of Takaka is Waikoropupu Springs, or Pupu, as the locals call it. It’s supposed to be the biggest and clearest spring in Australasia. It was a lovely bush walk to it, and the springs were peaceful, but I wouldn’t call them impressive, although the stats are: 14,000 litres a second bubbles up, and you can see the sand bouncing around on the bottom where the vents are. It’s hard to get a photo to show them in their best light, so I didn’t.

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Took a trip off the main road to a little settlement called Bainham, where there is this ancient little old shop called Langfords Store. Classic!

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23/03/17

Headed north this morning to the very northwest coast of the South Island, Farewell Spit. It’s not that impressive to be fair, but hey, you’ve gotta do it. Plus, there’s at town nearby called Puponga, now who wouldn’t want to go there! BTW, this coastline is where 700 whales beached themselves about a month ago, thankfully the ones that died have all been well buried by now.

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Spied this on our walk last night, right where we had been swimming - it's only a stingray! Yikes!

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Kaiteriteri dusk, peaceful. Went for a walk along the beach and out to Kaka Point.

Our GPS had fun with pronouncing "Kaiteriteri" : it became "Cater-it-ery"

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Stopped off at the Murchison/Nelson/Motueka junction for a bush walk along the old Kawatiri railway line. It took us over a bridge and through this tunnel - it doesn't look very long, but it is, and as dark as a shark in there!