Day 8 - Wellington - Picton - Kaiteriteri

Oh man was the 6am wake up call difficult. We caught the Interislander ferry from Windy old Wellington and caught a glimpse of it in daylight very briefly as we sailed away to the South Island.

We arrived in Picton - The Gateway to the South Island - at about 12:30, where the 1 million strong population, is impressively outnumbered by the population of Auckland City in the North alone. With only 4.5million people in the whole of New Zealand it's hard to believe we have travelled to a place even less populated than the North!

We drove along through the Marlborough Valley, where we saw an expansive amount of grape vines as the region is famous for its Savignon Blanc & Pinot Noir. I'll have to test that out later ;)

Whilst taking in the rolling hills, the autumnal alpine forests and snowy peaks we also called ahead to book in for a 16,500 foot skydive but luck was against us yet again as they are closed for maintenance for the two days we have available to jump! Seriously man!!! I am more and more nervous the longer we put it off and now a little bit convinced that maybe someone's trying to tell us it's a bad idea! Franz Josef might be the place for us to make the jump. Not sure which way my fingers are crossed for that one anymore!!

We then drove through Havelock, the town that went up against Queenstown for the title of capital city back when New Zealand was still a new country. Then it was through fume smelling Nelson (lots of HGVs and buses topping up fuel) for a supermarket sweep, on through Appleby rich in apple and pear orchards and boasting fertile land for other fruits, through Motueko, the ex weed-smokin capital of NZ and finally on to Kaiteriteri.

We also found out that Dutchman Abel Tasman never actually set foot in New Zealand although he gave the county its name and mountains, national parks and even the sea is named after him. He was scared off my Maori tribes after many of his men were killed. He stayed upon his ship and sailed away. Then of course, in 1769, Captain Cook arrived and the largest mountain of the region is reserved for him. Mount Cook. 

Now on to Kaiteriteri, where Maori would come and go to gather food. Shellfish, Mussels etc. They'd call it kaimarana. Kai means food. And each time they went, they didn't have long to gather shellfish before the tide came back in. So they had to do it fast. Teri Teri means fast, so the name translates as fast food. Although there was no fast food on the menu tonight. Just crazy golf - and I won!  I actually won against Kamal at a game!!! 

Then we explored the beach and it was absolutely freezing!!!!!

Then we cooked some noodles in the kitchen, tried a glass of Savignon Blanc wine and had an early night. We are off kayaking at 8am so it was a very welcome early night too!