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Published: March 15th 2015
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Decided on a day at a place called Castlepoint, it's on the east coast of the North Island and probably took us roughly two hours to get there. The road was good but very windy as we have come to expect of this country. I have to say on arrival we could barely open the car door it was so windy and being on a beach the sand was whirling around us. We made our way over and climbed upto the lighthouse, we were rewarded for our efforts with the most rugged views of the surrounding area and the ocean. We walked along the cliff tops trying desperately to remain vertical in the wind and felt invigorated when we got back to the car. I have to say this is cos we got a facial or was it a sand blasting! They actually hold horse races along this stretch of beach but it was the next day and we were already going to the Martinborough Fair. Shame as I think it would have been good fun although a little rough and ready. They race the farm horses no thoroughbreds here!! I bet the odd's were all over the place!
Martinborough
Fair is a huge day in the area's calendar and thousands arrive for the occasion. They close off all the roads into town as there are hundreds of stalls, fairground rides for the kids, live bands in the pubs and stalls selling every type of food that you can think. Good atmosphere and until 4pm the sun shone and it was all going really well. Then the heavens opened and guess where the Bennetts took shelter, yep you guessed it, in the pub! Got chatting to a couple of locals, sampled some local hospitality and had yet another very good day.
Last day in this town and I have to say we like it. It seems to be a very friendly place with loads going on. The towns calendar seems to have something going on nearly every weekend. It's a big farming community and even the little cafe in the square opens up at 5am to feed all the farm labourers. When we went in for our morning coffee quite a lot of the locals seem to meet up for a natter and coffee, it just all seemed a very good place. We spent a couple of hours at
the local beer makers. It was a nice bar and had beer tastings much like the vineyards do. Baz sampled a few of their different varieties and even tried a coconut beer, very strange!! The guy that owns the bar came out chatting to us and although this was not unique as all the locals are very friendly and interested in our gap year it just makes you think that they are glad you are there and fall over themselves to be helpful.
We got on the car ferry at Wellington and sailed across to a little town called Picton. The journey was fabulous, the ocean was like a millpond much to Baz's delight as the sea sick pills were close by. The journey takes just over three hours and for about an hour of it you are in open water and then you enter the sounds which I imagine is like sailing up the Norweign fiords. The scenery was spectacular and it must be down as one of the most beautiful ferry trips in the world. Staggering. Arrived at Picton and it's just green, tropical and picturesque. We are staying here for three nights whilst we plot our
journey around the South Island and today we have done nothing but sit and look at the scenery, it's just so lovely. Wish you were all here to share it and then you would understand just how much it can render you speechless. Sublime.
The hiking boots have been given an airing today and we have walked a little way along the Queen Charlotte Track. I say a little way as the track itself is 70km in total and people usually do it in three days with stop off's at various accommodation. A lot of the walking routes here are over 3-5 days and lots of companies take your luggage from place to place. We are thinking about doing one around Abel Tasman when we get there. Anyway I digress what we should have done in hindsight was to take the water taxi around to the next bay and walk back from there but having said that the road there was yet another spectacular drive. The walk was lovely and we had a picnic at one of the many view spots. Unfortunately there are a lot of wasps around at the moment so it wasn't a very restful lunch,
it was a bit like shove the butty in fast or share it with the swarms of buzzing pests!!! Goes without saying fantastic views and a great day. It is all just so beautiful that it made me very emotional today, I cried it's just jaw dropping! Anyway tonight Baz is cooking and he is feelin rather chuffed with himself as he has found a Lancashire meat and potato pie that he is serving with mushy peas and gravy! Can't take the Northern out of us folks!!
Moved onto a place called Kaikoura where we are hoping to go whale watching, sperm whales this time and really hoping to see some Orcas. The drive from Picton along the coastal road was an awesome drive, the journey started off by going through the mountains followed by a drive through numerous vineyards, didn't stop at any but did briefly call into a town called Blenheim for a coffee which is in the heart of the Malborough wine growing region. We then followed the coastal road and saw loads of fur seals all basking on the rocks. Arrived at the house that we have rented for three nights and all I can
say is it's like something out of a "build your own luxury pad with the most stunning views magazine". The views are to die for and there are walking paths all around us. Awesome. Booked in for the whale watching at 3pm, very excited. Disaster! we turned up only to be told that there were no whales in the area and therefore the trip was cancelled, we rebooked for 7.45am in the morning. Disaster number two, weather raining and no visibility also big notice on the screen saying take sea sick precautions, so we have rebooked for tomorrow at 7.45am again. Hopefully the weather will be better and the whales in abundance! OMG, OMG, OMG totally awesome experience, can't believe we saw two sperm whales and one was so close we actually got wet from it's blow hole, just gob smackingly surreal!! had a fantastic time, we saw our first whale within half an hour and we thought that was good but then another just came up in front of us and actually swam towards us. The Bennetts were in the right spot at the right time and the whale passed right next to us. Giants of the ocean and
totally graceful. The sperm whale is the fourth largest whale in the world and is the biggest whale with teeth. It has been recorded that these whales have taken Mako and Great White sharks so they are not to be messed with although their favourite food is giant squid which apparently are in numerous supply as the continental shelf drops to 1600 meters where it is very dark and very cold, good grounds for a squid with an eye the size of a dinner plate! Anyway for a hungry whale squid is a delicacy as it's easy to swallow, no bones except it's beak and one other fact before I bore the pants off you is they can actually stay in the depths for up to 2hours! We also saw some Albatross, they are enormous with a wing span over 3.5 meters, they were very elegant on the ocean and mesmerising to watch. What can I say another awesome day.
Back in the car this afternoon and onto Hanmer Springs, it is a bit inland and is famous for it's spa pools etc but it's on our list as it's a ski resort in the winter so as you
can imagine it's a small town surrounded by mountains, heaven. Back soon.
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