Today we drove to Nelson via Havelock. We stopped in Havelock and had lunch at the Green Mussel Pot where we had a mussel pot and a seafood chowder – the food was delicious! The boat cruise was not running so we decided to drive on. We stopped at Queen Charlotte Sounds lookout where what was meant to be a 500m walk turned into a 3.5km hike! Buy it was well worth it as the view from the top of the track is beautiful. We stopped at Perlorus bridge where we were hoping to do the swing bridge but couldn’t as it was closed for repairs. We then went to Founders Heritage Park in Nelson and then made our way to Tahunanui beach where we spent the night.
Thursday 24 September 2020
Today we traveled from Picton to Blenheim. We stopped for photos at Spring Creek then drove over a mountain pass. First stop was White Bay. There were beautiful flowers on the beach and 2 girls riding their horses. We made our way to Robin Hood Bay where we spent the night. It was very windy late afternoon but then cleared up. We got some fresh mussels off the rocks which Eddie had for dinner. The sunset and sunrise was spectacular. We were the only overnight campers and there was no cell phone reception. We had lovely walks on the beach and saw some strange orange sea creatures in the rock pools. We woke up to an icy cold wind blowing.
Wednesday 23 September 2020
Today we traveled from Whanganui to Wellington. We were booked on the 1:30pm Bluebridge ferry from Wellington to Picton but it was delayed by 2 hours due to bad weather – wind gusts of 120km/h! The first half of the ferrly trip had swells of 3.5m. We got to Picton at 7:40pm and slept at the Top 10 Holiday park.
Tuesday 22 Sept 2020
This morning we picked up our rental campervan, did our packing and drove to Whanganui. We got to Whanganui at 7:30pm and hardly anything was open. We had dinner at a Kebab/Turkish cafe and then checked in at the Whanganui East Club for the night. The Club closed at 8pm and the restaurant isn’t open on Mondays!