The South Island

On Monday we crossed the Cook Strait over to the South Island. It was 3 hours on the ferry but we had magic weather for it. The sea was like glass & we got lovely views of the Sounds.

We had a nice look around Picton. I really like the place, it's full of cute little arts & crafts shops. We bought ice-creams (hokey pokey of course, Will has to get the full kiwi experience!) & ate them on the waterfront.

From Picton it was a short drive to Blenheim where we stayed the night with Rachel's mum. On the way we felt obliged to stop in at one of the numerous Marlborough wineries for a bite to eat...

Tuesday was a big driving day, but again we were blessed with glorious weather. Enroute to Hokitika, our destination for the night, we stopped at the Pancake rocks. The blowholes weren't blowing while we were there (we were a few hours after high tide) but they were still pretty impressive.

We arrived in Hokitika early evening. We were staying at a pretty cool (not too mention unbelievably cheap) hostel right on the beach. We stocked up at the supermarket on baguettes, olives, mussels, hummus, cheese etc. & a nice bottle of Marlborough Sauv Blanc & had a lovely picnic dinner on the beach.