North South Island

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Picked up Charlie the camper van and headed up north. Drove along the coast and saw loads of seals. Made it to Picton and found a nice place to camp alongside some ducks. The next day we got as far as Nelson but Magnus was then sick as a dog. So far we have had more rain in one week in NZ than we did in the whole of South America.

Wine tasting in Marlborough was nice, lots to choose from. Found a nice view in Kaikoura to camp by. Was too windy for whale watching but was somehow ok for tiny little sea fishing boat to head out into open water. Honestly thought the old man and one legged fisherman were joking about heading out. Caught seven seapurchase and two crayfish/langostines (which the fisherman cooked up for us in his back garden). Yummy dinner for us that evening.

Saw lots of Albatross and Blue penguins which was great. Just missed out on spotting the Orcas which were out that day. The following day got a bit of news about a peanut which suddenly took up all our thoughts! Although it was all a bit of a blur after that point we do remember the following key events: Magnus did a bit of jetboating in Queenstown, we played frisbee golf with pro frisbees and had christmas dinner with Anne-Marie and Jon in Christchurch.

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