Headed up the east coast of South Island from Kaikoura towards the north. First stop, the huge seal colony at . Hundreds of adult seals plus lots of seal pups, shiny, playful and nuzzling their mums for milk.
And of course Mr H had planned several vineyard stops en route, at which point i twigged why I was down as a second driver on the car hire. Villa Maria and Giesen nailed, with a couple of nice bottles stashed in the car for New Year and afternoon.
And then got to the very pretty waterfront town of Picton, on one of the Sounds for a bit of lunch before heading down the windiest hill road to our hotel, The Portage. 20 mins by boat but 1.5 hours by car as veeeeeery hilly and twisty turny. Were def ready for a pint by the lovely water on arrival.
We were then meant to be electric mountain biking up the Queen Charlotte Track but the water taxi forgot to drop them off, so headed on foot instead. Little did I know that a 5 hour tramping odyssey awaited. Beautiful views of the Sounds and thank god had a picnic to lure me onwards.
Just about made it to Black Rock Point, and more importantly, back to base where a shower, sleep, tea and biscuits were needed. Still limping this morning as rather out of shape, but keep hoping it was good for me…
Now off to meet Richard and Maria, another financial chum of H’s, to go off on their boat for 2 nights. Water looks flat so here’s to Mr H getting an early sailing fix before we take our own boat for a week up north.
Happy New Year gorgeous people. Very surreal seeing 2 Jan on my iPad but sunshine and bright light outside!
x x