Blogs from Pelorus Sounds, Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Arrived at the Copthorne Millenium Hotel where we were basing ourselves for the next two nights. Managed to sneak into the restaurant before it closed and a couple of rib-eyes were washed down with a very nice local Pinot Noir. The next morning saw us taking the hire car back to the airport in Blenheim where we'd arranged to meet our driver for the day - George also known as 'Aussie' Two other people joined us in the mini bus and we immediatley headed for the Cloudy Bay vineyard. A very good tasting of 7 of their finest wines (no spitting out I can assure you!). Next stop a small family run vineyard called Bladen. Excellent tasting of 5 wines (still no spitting) and I purchased an excellent bottle of the botrytis desert wine (or 'sticky' ... read more

Four seasons in one day and a couple of spliffs :) Well we were right about the weather change driving back from Kiakoura; it was as though the rain had never happened when we got back to Picton. We went back to the same campsite we had been on before desperate for a shower as we hadn’t had one for two days (what with our freedom camp on the Kiakoura coast). Unfortunately our stomachs had got the better of us and we had stopped briefly at MacDonald’s for a milkshake which made us 10 minutes behind - the exact amount of time we were late for the camp shop to be open where we had to buy our shower tokens!! Oh well we’ll do some of our washing instead - nope didn’t have the right coinage ... read more

I spent a wonderful week on a refuge island in the Marlborough Sounds assisting DOC in their valuable work in saving endangered spices. This was a week like no other. Once we got through the strict quarantine procedures on the mainland to make sure we weren't harboring any nasties who might wreak havoc on the protected island we were welcomed ashore with freshly baked gingerbread men, with our bright yellow fish bins of essentials! Firstly we were isolated. There were no more than 12 people on the relatively small island (see map for location) for the whole week that i was there, 2 Irish, 2 American (team international), 3 kiwi and one German (the island family)...with a few others visiting. Then there were the tens of thousands of frogs (Maud Island frogs - found no where ... read more

Day 516 (26.08.08) Since Jean and Mike were headed off on the mail boat cruise of the Pelorus Sounds today we thought we'd do our own tour of the sounds by jumping in the van and driving along the road that follows the rough path of the Queen Charlotte Walking Track. The weather was pretty terrible with mist and rain already settled in before we left. We had mixed views of the sounds during our drive but what we did see of the small bays and inlets that make up the sounds was great. After a car picnic lunch we headed back to Havelock. Day 517 (27.08.08) All packed up we left Havelock early to drive further along the top of the South Island to make our way towards the Abel Tasman National Park. We stopped ... read more