"This would be so nice in the summer"

View from the centre of New Zealand
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Gemma: After a pleasant 3 hour journey across the Cook Straits we sailed into the tiny port town of Picton full of plans for the south island leg of our New Zealand adventure.  And then it started to rain...

For the next week as we passed through Picton, Kaikoura and Blenheim we lost count of how many times we asked each other why on earth we'd travelled to New Zealand during the winter time as one activity after another was lost to bad weather.

Subsequently, our list of "things to do when we come back in the summer" grew steadily and now includes: Trekking the Queen Charlotte Track in Picton, swimming with dolphins and/or whale watching in Kaikoura, and sampling some of Blenheim's finest Chardonnay on another wine tour.  (Actually that last one isn't really weather dependent but unfortunately our rapidly diminishing New Zealand budget just wouldn't allow it!)

Us in our 'beachwear'
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This is not to say that it's all been bad (we are in New Zealand after all!) and we were lucky enough to see dolphins as we arrived in Picton, and a seal colony at the side of the road en route to Kaikoura - both of which didn't cost us a penny. We also felt the need to treat ourselves during our stay in Kaikoura so we headed off for the evening to sample the local delicacy - crayfish (lobster) and see if it matched the standard in Vietnam.  To put it bluntly, it didn't, but we had a good night all the same.

A few friendly seals
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Finally the sun came out to play as we headed to Nelson to spend a lovely few days in what has become our favourite spot in the northern region of the south island. Having been to the very top of New Zealand we felt compelled to visit the middle of the country which is located in Nelson and provides some fantastic photo opportunities from a vantage point high above the city.  We also went for a long walk on the beautiful beach (joined by every local and his dog), to take in the stunning views of snow capped mountains in the distance - pretty impressive stuff.