15th December 2009
We left Blenheim this morning without even having a taste of wine apart from the bottle of Australian red that we had last night - probably not the done thing, but we’ve never been sticklers for tradition :).
The rows of vines morphed into rolling countryside once more which finally met the sea in Picton. It was another lovely day so we parked up and went for a walk across the harbour, climbing up to get wonderful views looking back to the ferry terminal and further out across the sounds before we came to a small bay where crystal clear waters lapped the shore. We were walking for about an hour and a half which gave us a great opportunity to see more of Picton, which actually seems like a nice place, rather than leaving New Zealand with the impression that it was a cold, dreary place with a ferry terminal, which is what we thought when we first came in on the ferry about 4 weeks ago.
From Picton, we took the extremely windy Queen Charlotte Drive towards Havelock. This afforded us some stunning views of parts of the Marlborough Sounds, which are not unlike Doubtful Sound except perhaps a little flatter. The sounds are a mixture of inlets, headlands, peaks and beaches and this wiggly atmospheric road gave us a great snapshot of this.
By the time we reached Havelock the heavens had opened again, so we headed to the Slip Inn for a spot of lunch while the shower passed. Back on the road again we soon arrived into a sunny Nelson. This region apparently has more sunny days than anywhere else in the country, so let’s hope we’re in for a few days where we can get out and explore.