New Zealand - Day Four

Day Four – Tuesday 4th May 2010 Last night we researched the next stop that we had in mind, we wanted to get to Collingwood tonight and go on a Farewell Spit Eco Tour but unfortunately there are no tours available until Thursday and that puts us a day behind our proposed schedule and gives us an extra day to get to Collingwood. It’s not the end of the world so we can just take it easy and take two days to get to Collingwood. Picton is the port where the inter island ferry docks it is Marlborough's main commercial port and provides access to Queen Charlotte Sound. We watched the inter islander Ferry as it left in the morning on its’ way to Wellington. The 92km voyage takes 3 hours.

Just around the corner from Picton was this huge logging port. All of us were impressed with the size of it!

We chose to take the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive through the Malborough Sounds and it was a really beautiful trip.

Further along we stopped to “ooooh” and “aaaah” over the clear water at The Grove near Okiwa Bay.

We drove into Havelock and stopped for coffee at a cafe near the harbour.

As we got closer to Nelson we turned off the main road onto Cable Bay Road to stop in at an adventure centre and enquire about their four wheelers. Nicholas really, really wanted to drive a four wheeler however most places there was an age restriction and even though our son is tall he is only ten. No luck for Nicholas but lucky for us we found the ideal spot for lunch!

This was one of those moments when I really appreciated the flexibility of the motor home. Great views and great food and thanks to our wine tasting the day before, great wine! We arrived in Nelson fairly early in the afternoon so we stopped in the city to look around and explore. The church was outstanding and if I remember correctly cost $800 per day to maintain! We were able to go inside and look around as well.

This is where we stopped for the night.

Picton to Nelson (110klms)

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