Blogs from Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

Refreshed after a night spent in a bed and a shower in the morning, we left 17A Athol Ter. in Christchurch for the final time and strated our journey north. Registered to play in a beach ultimate frisbee tournament the following weekend in Nelson, we had 6 days to fill. Our plan was to visit the seaside town of Kaikoura before moving on to Picton to hike the Queen Charlotte Track. Kaikoura Although worthy of a few-day stopover, we were only able to spend an afternoon. Kaikoura is situated right on the east coast and is often visited by those wanting to go deep sea fishing, whale or dolphin watching. The town is rather small but is filled with great restaurants, fish & chip shops and mom-and-pop kind of stores. We arrived around noon and spent ... read more

By now we were already well accustomed to the stunning scenery of Kiwi land. Turning many a corner, letting out a big sigh and muttering "wow" was becoming a pretty common occurence. So as we boarded the ferry taking across across the Cook Strait we really should have known that the Marlborough Sounds, the gateway to New Zealands south, was probably going to blow our socks off! It didn't disappoint - rolling green hills descending into endless channels of clear blue water. It was also getting bloody cold. As this country gets more beautiful our own faces seem to be losing their silky summer shine at a worrying rate. Besides the adverse weather conditions a diet of bread, pasta and rice seems to be taking its toll. For those greeting us on our return be warned ... read more

We had decided on a route for the last area of South Island before heading across the Cook Strait to North. We weren’t really sure how long we were going to be spending anywhere or how long it would take us so we weren’t going to book the ferry until we actually knew what we were doing!! So we headed off towards Nelson. Along the way we took the scenic drive around Ruby Bay rather than head along the main state highway. It wasn’t quite the scenic route we were expecting - there was some really great views across the sea but we weren’t driving next to the sea the whole time which was a little disappointed. We headed onto Rabbit Island which is connected to the mainland by one road only. it’s a conservation area ... read more

Geo: -41.2929, 174.006Dinsdag 15 februariVoor onze laatste dag op het Zuidereiland reden we van Motueka naar Picton. Onderweg zijn gestopt in Havelock. Dat stadje is hier gekend als de plaats waar de New Zealand greenlip mussels vandaan komen. Het zijn zeer smaakvolle grote mosselen in een groene schelp. Uiteraard zijn we die daar gaan eten voor lunch in een mooi restaurantje aan het haventje van Havelock : The slip-inn. Vooral de halve gegrilde mosselen met verschillende toppings is aan te bevelen. In Picton hebben we even door de stad gewandeld en langs het water, waar je een mooi zicht hebt op de Marlborough sound, waar we morgen met de veerboot zullen doorvaren. Straks nog onze laatste nacht in de campervan. Morgen gaat hij mee de boot op en dan ruilen we hem in voor een gewone ... read more

Mel of the Buccaneer Lodge had been kind enough to rearrange room assignments to let me stay in my room until 1 p.m.. Regrettably, it was pouring buckets, so I did not try to walk out to visit the bay or the blue footbridge one last time. I did go to church, at Picton Community Baptist Church. The first hour of the service was worthwhile. There was a lot of singing to a guitar, with the lyrics projected on a movie screen to encourage the parishioners to join in. I joined in enthusiastically, though the only song I recognized was "Amazing Grace." There was some excuse for this, as the oldest copyright date on any of them was 1993. Even "Amazing Grace" had been altered by the interpolation of a new chorus between each verse. ... read more