NZ : Ferry to the South Island and beyond.

The crossing for the ferry was an early one and saw us up before the crack of dawn to get down to the Inter-island Crossing for a 07:15 check in and 08:15 departure. The air was cold and for the first time in a long time, we were able to see our breath on this cold and clear day. The sun was peaking from behind the breaker as swans and ducks were visable in the harbour. We boarded the ferry in our car and headed straight up to the cafe for a good view and ideal location to plan our south island trip.

It was here we finally realised the error of our ways and recognised the enormity of the south Island. With only 3 weeks left, we trawled through the maps and recieved help from a local friendly truck driver who had obviously taken pity on us and our overwhelming collection of scrawled papers and leaflets. Whilst he tried his best to inform us of the great things to see and do, we tried our darndest not to chunder in his face. The first 20minutes of the journey was choppy to say the least and we weren't sporting sea legs of any kind, we were literally green at the gills. As the sea settled and the rocking eased, we satisfied out tummies and shared a full english breakfast that was really rather yummy. Shortly after this, we were delighted to see a pod of dolpins jumping out of the water alongside the front of the boat in their hundereds. No need to pay for dolphin watching when this spectacular sight was free for all to see.

The boat docked and we drove on to the I Site in Picton for information on the route to Nelson. Fortunately, a slight detour would take us to a highway teeming with Cellar Door Wineries for Jan to indugled her tastebuds in some of the finest Sauvignon Blancs she has ever tasted. We discovered more about wine from a variety of characters on the way in the beautiful surroundings of Marlborough Sounds. If ever in doubt all you need to say regarding wine is, 'Hmm, thats got a great nose on it.' and 'Look at the legs on that.' This will apparently get you by no problem. We also encountered artisan chocolatiers and fudge makers and simply couldnt resist Creme Brulee and Tiramisu to take on the road.

We arrived in Nelson and met our host for the next 2 evenings, Steve. A tattoo sporting, Harley Davidson driving, film buff who was a real gem and let us take over his lazy boy chairs and enjoy his film collection on the 2 rainy days we spent in Nelson. After the full throttle, adventure exteme few weeks, we decided it was time to take a break from the crazy shinanigans and attend to some 'office' business. This saw us frantically blogging and uploading weeks worth of photos. We had become so slack in blogging whilst in Fiji but were welcoming of the 2 relaxing and slow paced days to catch up on ourselves. Especially catching up on some much loved and incredibly infrequent trash TV under the guise of 'conserving energy' for our mammoth walk ahead.

Earlier that day we had been productive enough to book our 35mile, 3/4 day Abel Tasman Coastal Walk in the DOC site and spend far too long in the local shop searching for food that would be easy to cook over a teeny tiny stove, in our teeny tiny pot. We needed to stash up on 'happy food', as Jan calls it, so when we are tired, cold, wet and sleeping in a hut, we have something to put a smile back on our face..... We'll let you know how we get on (if we survive)!!!

Peace and Love,

Jan and Sooz.