Polly: Everyone said that the South Island was the place to go for "scenery", but up until now I thought the North Island was pretty spectacular. However, driving away from the ferry terminal in Picton, the road twisted around vineyard after vineyard. State Highway 1 turned into an amazing coastal road, winding around the farmland with snow-capped mountains in the distance. The coast was fairly rocky, but at times had black, volcanic sand beaches. I was gazing out of the window when I noticed some furry blobs on the rocks. We stopped the van to have a look, and found ourselves staring out at another seal colony. There were females, bulls, pups, all relaxing on the rocks with a couple of the younger ones swimming in the rock pools. We travelled a couple of hours south
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