31st August (just) - North Island be damned we're off to drink wine!

South Island bon jour / North Island laters loser!

Not true really, the north island was awesome and we had one of the best times ever, the girls will back me up on that too. But islands run out of land at some point so we left...

On to the South, which I am looking forward to as Southerners rule, those northern monkeys know that deep down. It is a tad weird going south and it getting colder but at least everyone is getting better looking.

We got the ferry early, 8am early, but excitement was the key so much so that I took a bit of a nap whilst we waited to way anchor. Again, I'm sorry to say, we hit wall to wall or horizon to horizon scenery. When we hit the south island we had to traverse through the Marlborough Sounds, full of green hilly pastures and picturesque mirror lakes. Stunning.

After getting the breath back from the oxygen starving landscape we hit Picton. From there we picked up the new hire car, yet another Toyota Corolla but this time with a whole 200cc's more power, mwahahahaha.

Then we hit Renwick, wine capital of well, Renwick. Unfortunately we got in around 3 but at least we'd travelled two islands today. We hired bikes and peddled our hearts out to get to 3 wineries in an hour and a half. Forrest Estate, Seresin and Grove Mill, all of which were fantastic. We started off at the first tasting 7, then next was about 3 then the last we lost count. But all were fantasticobeautilicious.

We stayed in a really great hostel, the place was great but there was one hitch. One guest was a little on the whacked out side and could have been a touch creepy. Anyway, we went to bed 'early' to get away from the fool but he was kicked out early in the morning because he was trying to rewire the internet PC and broke a bunch of stuff. He seemed nice but nuts.

Setting of early AGAIN, we high tailed it to Kaikoura stopping on the way for some Crayfish (a poor version of the lobster, same but without the cool claws) and some seals that Liz also thought were dead until they moved.

Tomorrow, fingers toes and all bodily parts crossed, we are off to see some Whales and Dolphins. At one with the nature once again. But the wind has picked up and it could be a touch choppy for tomorrow. But we will still have to get up for our 7:15 am boat. Frickin EARLY!

Heres to exotic floating foods...

Laters
Pricey