Day 7 & 8 - Not Long to go!

---

Day 7 - Paremata to Welligton 25km, Ferry from Wellington to Picton, Picton to Blenheim 30km

On day 7 we were to catch the Ferry from Wellington to the South Island at 1pm, and so treated ourselves to a well deserved sleep in! And fortunately Annie treated us to a cooked breakfast before we left for Wellington. The ferry ride across provided some spectacular scenery. Thankfully Mark was able to get some decent photos, as i slept for the entire 3 hour journey! I guess the kilometres are finally starting to catch up with us! As we left the small port of Picton we spotted our first road sign with Christchurch on it, a major milestone as far as we were both concerned. Only 338km to go! Another short peddle and we were at our destination in Bleneim, right in the heart of the Marlborourgh region - New Zealand wine country! But no wine for us as we needed to cover some serious distance the next day.

Day 8 - Blenheim to Kaikoura 130km

Back to the early mornings, but we were both quite excited about starting our route on the South Island as we had heard great things about the scenery. And to be fair, it didn't disappoint at all. The first 30km or so were spent cycling through Marlborough's many vineyards, which made for a very pleasant morning other than one utter beast of a hill that almost killed the pair of us. However once we were over that we started to make our way down the East coast of the Island, with the Kaikoura mountain ranges on our right and the Pacific ocean on our left there was plenty to take our mind off the pain. Today was the first day that we both really began to feel the effects of the constant cycling, both suffering from heavy legs and niggling injuries. Being honest I am surprised it has taken me 8 days to pick up an injury! But we managed to get the heads down and get to Kaikoura in good time. And as our reward we managed to catch the highlights of the Europa League on ESPN, good good great times. A short but very hilly day tomorrow, but not long to go, the end is in sight!

---

Photos

North Island - Done!
Waiting to board the Ferry at Wellington

338km to go!
Christchurch in our sights.

The East Coast
A great sky looking over the Pacific