So we are finally here after spending 2 riverting nights in Wellington (aka one of the most boring places I have been to - I really did not like it) we have now arrived at the South Island. I guess I am being a bit harsh on Wellington, we did go up the cable cart, it was old and looks nice but both Helen and I were a little unsure as to whether we had reached the end of the trip after 2 minutes, but like sheep (and we have seen tons of them) we all departed the cable car together. After a nice walk through the botanical gardens we ended up grabbing a tour of parliament house, which was actually pretty entertaining as I could not work out why and American was talking us around on the tour and the school party we were put with made me feel 13 again with lots of memories flooding back. We finally went to museum which was quite interesting with a giant stupid squid on show (I say stupid as he was caught grabbing onto a fish that was caught on a net and refused to let go - kind of a tug of war between a fishing ship at around 20 tonnes v squid weighing in at 400kg (don't quote me on that)) and a few interesting historical points such as treaties that were signed between the Europeans and Mauri's which appears from first hand to have been more amicable than when they landed in Australia. and that folks was pretty much it. The next most exciting thing in Wellington was actually being able to use a washing machine that was in our hotel room and not having to pay $4 a wash for it!
The next step for us was the South island, getting on the Interisland ferry, which according to the company is one of the most spectacular ferry journeys in the world, and from the two journeys I have taken it ranks first so it is probably a fair claim. I say probably as we did not get to see much as since we have been on the South island it has not stopped tipping it down with rain, which rather impairs the visibility somewhat. Anyway not to dampen our spirits we decided to head to Malborough to sample some of the local wines, which was quite entertaining as because Helen and I are both softies we ended up buying a bottle at pretty much every place we went to, which means we are well stocked up for those cold nights!
We headed up through Nelson to the Abel Tasman National park which is very beautiful, where we camped out for the night in the rain. Now bear in mind that it has not stopped raining all day, and with Origin on I thought I could get away with a lazy evening infront of the telly in a nice bar somewhere. Well when I asked whether there was a telly the lady just laughed at me and I quote " I hope you have some cards" and then proceeded to tell me that the nearest pub was 15 minutes drive away and you would be lucky if it was open! So I missed Origin, and had to sit in a campervan all night, which comprised of one victory of scrabble, attempts at two crosswords, reading Women's Day and trying to complete some sit ups / press up's in a confined space, which must have looked rather dodgy fro the outside!
Anyway we woke up and heard that there had been major flooding up the road from us so we were pretty lucky in that respect that we did not drift out to sea (joke mum before you get worried). We made our way down to a ski resort called Hanmer Springs which is a pretty little town. On route we walked over a swing bridge, which some of you may have down before, which actually was pretty tough due to the recent rain we had and the poor selection of shoes that I wore and we arrived at our Top10 campsite (which has rapidly become the love of my life) for the night. Looking to pop up the road to the thermal spa for some more thermal spa action (you can't get enough of it when you are in a freezing campervan all night) and then to the Monteaths for some Radlers!
Anyway over and out from me, take it easy:
Observation of the last 2 day's:
1. Wellingtonites are still banging on a bout the Wellywood sign - who cares!
2. there is no radio coverage between Nelson and Hanmer Springs - eye spy is a great game
