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Published: November 12th 2013
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My tried and proven method for sea travel still holds true!!! Although the
Cook Straight was rough, blowing a gale and bitterly cold, I held myself together and didn't embarress myself by becoming sea sick. The secret.... fall asleep as soon as you can in a well ventilated area.... by the time you wake up, not only is the voyage half over but your body has had time to adjust itself to the motion. It also meant that I woke just as we came in sight of the South Island and the mountains of
Marlborough Sound.
Emerging from the mist, rain and clouds, the ferry slides gracefully between the headlands into bays surrounded by forests and the occasional commercial sea farms (maybe oysters, maybe something else). The waters calm but the temperature seems to have fallen even further since leaving Wellington and I soon realize what the South Island might have in store for me.
I'd been told that the South Island is a lot flatter than the North Island with mainly just the Southern Alps filling the skyline. From
Picton, this doesn't seem the case, but after only a few kilometres the terrain levels off and
the first of the vineyards appear. By now though, what with the ferry running late, they are all closed and will have to wait for when I pass this way again for the return crossing to the North Island.
On the ferry I decided to change my plans at the last minute, so instead of circumnavigating the island, I've now decided to perform a (kind of) figure 8. What this means is that I will be able to do 2 alpine crossings and hopefully still get to see everything else that I wanted. So instead of heading south, my decision took me west with the intention of getting as far as I could with the light I had left.
Passing some of the "who's who" of New Zealand wines had me salivating, with names like
Cloudy Bay and
Stoneleigh (notes were taken for my return), before passing to the south of
Nelson and finding
Kaiwai Point campsite on the
Wairau River.
Continuing west in the morning through some amazing valleys and beautifully serene country towns such as
St Arnaud and
Murchison, lead me to SH66 and
Maruia Falls. On through
Lewis Pass provided some stunning scenery and some equally stunning corners. My only disappointment was that for a solid 90 minutes I was concentrating so hard on the road that I forgot to pull over and get some pictures.
Hamner Springs is just on the east side of the range and is an idealic town with tree-lined streets, thermal pools and even a horse drawn carriage. With such settings it was the perfect place to stop in for lunch and have a chat with a few locals at the pub. Told that, even though the town is beautiful at this time of year, it is actually the quiet time as there is a ski field just up the road and creates most of the tourism in Winter. Suited me just fine... I had the place to myself with a few locals on a Friday afternoon, along with good food and cold beer. Siting in a quiet pub with the locals and watching the world pass by has to be one of my favourite pastimes.... if only every day could be that good.
Bidding farewell, I was soon off again though to do the final stretch
to
Christchurch for the the night. Thinking.... It's Friday night.... good chance for a beverage again to cap off the day... I soon realized how wrong I was.
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