We were up early and packed ready for the off to Mount Cook, it was going to be a long drive today with around 300km to cover. Again we had fantastic weather which only mean’t we would get hot in our non-air conditioned van but windows down and with a bit of a breeze we would be fine. Our first stop was at the Moeraki Boulders, unusually large spherical boulders sitting on a stretch of Koekahe Beach. It’s a popular tourist stop as we were met with crowds of travellers making their way up or down the coast. They are pretty random though and worth a picture or two if you’re passing.

So onwards from the famous boulders we turned onto State Highway 83 and started making our way inland towards the Mount Cook region. Not far from Duntroon we stopped to check out some Maori rock paintings on the limestone cliffs, they’re talked about in the Lonely Planet and so we thought it would be a good little spot for lunch. So with around 150 km to go (which in ‘Po’ means a good 2 hours of so) we continued on with our journey. It’s difficult not to stop as you approach Mount Cook because the views and colours of Lakes Behmore and Pukaki are shockingly blue with snow-tipped peaks all around. It’s a breathtaking part of the country to visit.

When we eventually arrived in Mount Cook Village we nipped into the DOC to get some information on walks for the next day. After some good advice from the warden on duty we picked up a route map for the area and decided we would take the Mueller Hut trail the following day up to Mount Olivia.

Our campsite for the evening was at The White Horse DOC camping ground, it’s the only place to camp in the area and was packed full of camper vans and tents. it’s a really popular place and has a large communal cooking shelter with lots of extra toilets to so for $6 per person it’s not bad at all. In terms of location it is fantastic, we were practically at the foot of Mount Cook with a lot of major paths leading from the campsite to various sites and valleys in the area, we walked out along the Hooker Valley track for around an hour before getting back to the van for a night in!

The next morning we were up early and ready for our hike, we’d heard it was pretty tough so we were ready for a work-out. Plus this would be a chance for us to test out our new packs and start getting in some training for Nepal. We loaded up our packs although both of us knew that in reality we’ll be carrying more weight, but we have to start somewhere. The hike itself is very tough, especially the first 2 hours up hill, we weren’t quite expecting it to be so steep and so we really were getting quite a sweat on. The terrain is a mixture of large steps built into the pathway, rocks, shale and snow, so we had it all as well as more fantastic views throughout the valley. We knew this would go on our list of epic walks as soon as we started out.

Closer to the top we were hit with cool wind and so wrapped up again before making our way around the corner to Mueller Hut. Here we stopped for lunch and had a good nosey around, they have volunteer wardens who stay on a weekly basis during the season to keep an eye on the place, so we enjoyed a good chat with them. Not long after we decided to take the extra hike up to Mount Olivier, although we didn’t make it quite to the top (it’s a little unclear as to where this is) we were at around 2000m and enjoyed being there very much indeed.

The path down was steep once again and so we felt a little jarred afterwards, but we loved the hike, the views and the challenge. Perhaps it won’t be quite so enjoyable all the time when we’re in Nepal but we’re already starting to anticipate to the highs and the lows! Mount Cook is a must on the agenda if you’re travelling around South Island. Later that night we stayed at Lake Tekapo and decided we would be heading to Christchurch earlier so we could start planning the sale of the van.

(Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We left the Otago Peninsula early so that we could get to the Otago Farmer’s Market taking place at the Dunedin Train Station. We wanted to get ourselves some fresh greens for our Christmas Dinner. We didn’t quite tick all the boxes but we did pick up a few extra treats such as delicious home-baked mince pies, vintage award winning blue cheese and Dave got himself some Vennison mince so he could make some tasty burgers. We had a look around the famous landmark that is Dundein Train Station, although perhaps not as impressive as some we have visited over our travels it was nice enough. We continued to buy the rest of our Christmas food from New World where we stocked up on booze, bought some lovely fresh salmon and a pudding! We were ready!

We couldn’t check in until after 1pm so we spent our time exploring Dunedin’s city centre. It’s a steep ascent from Hogwartz where we were spending our Christmas to the Octagon that is the centre of the city and it was a very hot day with busy shops keeping us slightly hot and bothered. We visited the Dundein Art Gallery which with free admission completely exceeded our expectations with the current exhibitions on show. The star attraction being the ground floor’s ‘The Beloved’ exhibition playing host to classic and contemporary pieces with our favourite artists being Gordon Walters, Ani O’Neill and Heather Straka.

When we left the gallery we took it upon ourselves to buy a few Christmas gifts for each other with the maximum spend being $20 and neither of us would know what the other bought! Exciting!! So off we went for an hour and when we met for a coffee later at Perc we sniggered at our gift buying experiences.

After checking into Hogwartz we were in our new home for the next few days which looked out across the city and St. Joseph’s Cathedral stood straight in front of us. Later on we joined the rest of the travellers staying there in cooking  a dish to go into the barbecue that the hosts were holding that night on Christmas Eve. So armed with a cous-cous salad and some booze we joined everyone else at the barbecue and enjoyed a great feast with some lovely company. Thanks to the owners Gilbert and Maja for putting in so much effort, they had so much meat and beer on offer. We ended the night with a Skype call to Karl, Em and Sukie who were all in good form and Emily had been doing her own skills in the kitchen in preparation for the Roscoe’s coming over for dinner on Christmas Day! Missing them loads!!

So Christmas morning came, and we started the day with the grand unveiling of our presents! Dave enjoyed the entertainment that was opening a whoopy cushion, a packet of poker chips, a selection of choccie goodies and a notebook (this would be useful!). Helen received a cadbury’s creme egg, 2 variations of the New Zealand classic peanut slab (milk and dark chocolate) but the pinnacle of her presents was a Shewee!! At long last Helen will no longer have to squat to have a wee when hiking, or being stuck on the back of a boat with nowhere to go! This was a fantastic present from Dave, it did stretch the budget though, but we think it will come in very handy!

So excitement over we took a few snaps and then a problem occurred! The leica froze, it got stuck on a card reading error and no matter what we tried we couldn’t get it to read any cards inserted into the camera! Hmmm! This was not good news and it definitely dampened our festive spirit for the rest of the day! There was nothing we could do so we picked ourselves up and drove out to St Clair beach where we enjoyed a lovely picnic and some very hot sun. It didn’t last very long though so we got back to the hostel late afternoon and decided to watch our Christmas movie of choice – Little Miss Sunshine. With the Leica at the back of our minds we enjoyed the film immensely and then decided to cook our Christmas dinner and eat with Kris and Kay our new found Xmas buddies.

Dinner was delicious, here’s what we had:

• Salmon fillet – baked (devine!)
• Honey roasted carrots and parsnips
• Roasted potatoes
• Broccoli and a few boiled potatoes
• Pam’s stuffing balls (from a packet)
• Lemon butter sauce

• Dave also enjoyed a pig in a blanket (sausage wrapped in bacon)

And for the pud:

• Pam’s Passion Fruit Cheescake! What a treat!

This was all enjoyed with a bottle of Monkey Bay’s Pinot Gris.

So with our stomachs stuffed we went on to enjoy a few more Skype calls home, one to Barb with Louis joining us live from Perth, and one with Jan, Den and Alice! Merry Christmas all!

Boxing Day was a shopping day which saw us take advantage of the discounts on offer. We bought our trekking rucksacks from Bivouac who had a 40% discount off two Osprey packs perfect for our trip in Nepal, and Helen bought a pretty loaded sleeping bag from Mac Pac. Never more will she moan about feeling the draft at night as this 800+ loft sleeping bag will keep her snug at temperatures as low as -7. Fingers crossed for the Himalayas.

After enough of the shops we went back to Hogwartz and made a few plans for travel connections and had a plan of action for our camera repair. We decided to stay another night at Hogwartz to take advantage of having a room and some space to spread out. We also designed and printed a poster to advertise our van for sale. It’s easy to get used to having a little bit of luxury but we’d be back in the van as of the 27th. Christmas in Dunedin was nice, the weather was fantastic which is a change for us Brits, but we did miss our home offerings! Looking forward to being back with the family next year!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Continuing the exploration of the Caitlins we drove to Nugget Point. Luckily it was a nice morning and we got some excellent views of the iconic landforms that reach out from the coast to the ocean, the lighthouse and the rocky inlets. Its a short walk down to the viewing point and its well worth it.

Onwards towards Dunedin and upon arriving at the popular St Clair Beach we strolled along the sandy beach and watched the dogs playing in the waves fetching balls and sticks thrown by their owners. This was a quick stop over as we would be backtracking to Dunedin for Christmas in a few days time. For the next two nights though we decided to stay on the Otago Peninsula, famed for lush hills, extinct volcanoes, beaches, albatross and penguins. We pre-booked to stay in the Portabello Tourist Park ($31 NZD/night) as we weren’t sure how busy it would be so close to Christmas.

This private camping ground is a very nice spot indeed, with a short walk to a shop, pub and an award winning chippy in Portabello. We decided on a walk towards and along the Okia Flat. This takes in “The Pyramids” (volcanic hills), a beach / coastal walk and a crouching elephant made from volcanic rock. The walk took a few hours and we spent the time exploring further into the Papanui Inlet with its soft crunchy sand that swallowed our feet!

Later on we drove up to The Royal Albatross Centre located at the very tip of the peninsula which offers viewing (over the hill where the birds are nesting) and a museum/cafe. As we did not want to pay for the pleasure we took up a vantage point, with lots of other tourists, on top of the cliffs to see if we could spot any birds returning from their day fishing out at sea.

We did see several albatross in amongst the pretty large gulls, and they are HUGE, the photos really do not do them justice. Seagulls also have a big nesting site here and do create a fair amount of shrilling and screaming all on their own. On the other side of the cliffs you can make your way down to the bay and watch the Blue Penguins returning to feed their young. They only come ashore once its practically dark so we waited for them with around 100 other people.

This is also a free area for visitors to watch the penguins and luckily there are volunteers in the guise of marshals (in high vis vests). They offered an informative insight into the penguins and how long they have been there for as well as keeping order amongst the crowds. The elderly male warden has done this job for the past 5 years and was a nice bloke, but his people skills left something to be desired, clearer communication would have made it simpler for people to understand what to do and where to stand. He was however very passionate about the protection of the birds from public! After some shouting at idiots who couldn’t turn their flash on their cameras off, the little birds made their way up to where we were standing, one even walking inches from both of us and producing a little poo. Helen loved it.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

First stop for the day was Anderson Park, an impressive Georgian-style residence set in 24 hectares of landscaped gardens. The art on show in the house was of local New Zealand artists and is worth a look as well as the gardens and the Māori house located at the rear of the house.

90km from Invercargill is the lovely (and remote) Curio Bay. During the drive along the scenic route which takes you along the coast we stopped at Waipapa point to explore the beach which is home to seals and a lighthouse. Curio Bay has one hostel that we could see; along with a few guest houses and a camp ground located on the beach, no shops or ATM’s. In the trusty van we checked into the Curio Bay Camping Ground and at $8 each is great value.

The location is what you are paying for. The showers are fairly antiquated and the kitchen is the size of a shoebox but with a glorious bay famed for surfing and endangered Hector Dolphins to the left and a Jurassic period petrified fossil forest with Yellow-Eyed Penguins (arguably the rarest of penguin species) to the right what more could you want?

The petrified forest is 180 million years old and was once a forest of conifers which were buried by ancient volcanic mud flows and gradually replaced by silica to produce the fossils now exposed by the sea. We had fun exploring the rock and the rock pools as well as watching the rough sea swirling around the masses of kelp.

We returned to see the Yellow-Eyed penguins later in the evening and saw a few returning from their fishing trips. People are allowed to watch FROM A DISTANCE! But as usual, people / tourists get in the way of these rare animals to snap a photo or two or hundred and stop them from reaching their nests and young. It really drives both of us mad. If you do go please show some respect and keep your distance, most people do not and its such an infuriating thing to see.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We were up early and avoided the sand-flies by eating breakfast away from where we camped in the forest area. Today we were journeying to Invercargill, mainly to break up the drive to the Caitlens. We drove through more lush mountains ranged and started passing lots of sheep in the fields, something that Southland is famous for. Our first stop was at Colac Bay, famous for its surf and antarctic winds, which we felt straight away. The only nice thing going on was a wedding on the beach, it was a chilly day for this though and so we quickly got back in the van to continue on. Our next port of call was in Riverton where we had a little wander around the streets and drank chai at the Beach House Cafe, it was a good place for us to stop a while.

When we eventually got to Invercargill we were starting to get used to the cooler air but we happily hid in the van for lunch before going into the Southland Museum for a spot of culture. Its a free museum which is always a bonus and is home to New Zealand’s endemic reptile the Tuatara Lizard. They have around 25 at the museum with an area for each stage of their lives. Tuatara have been around for around 200 million years and the oldest there is around 111 years old and still reproductively active! Good going Henry!

So after we spectacled at the lizards we had a look at the art. There was some insightful imagery taken from one of New Zealand’s heroes Burt Munro along with some very cool block prints influenced by Maori and Polynesian culture.

When we left the museum we nipped up to the water-tower a place recommended to us by the I-Site staff saying it was open today so we must go up and have a look. In all fairness it was really quite good, the interior of the water-tower itself is very interesting and we were more than happy to photograph the views looking out across flat Invercargill.

As we were heading out of Invercargill we had a look at the town and then decided to camp out towards the Beach Road Holiday Park close to Oreti Beach. We thought they offered a really good price for their facilities at $11 each and the owners were very friendly even though the lady at the I-Site said this place was a little…rough! So we enjoyed a good evening here along with some wine and some nice food cooked in their canteen style kitchen.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We drove back into Te Anau to get a weather update for the area, which was looking better as the days passed. From Te Anau we took the Milford Road north and once again took in the amazing views, from meadows and lupin lined roads, glacier formed valley’s to the mirror lake and mountains forming around us.

 We did a half day hike to Lake Marian which was a tough 3 hour return hike signposted around 7 km from Gunns Camp. We passed over a swing-bridge which led us through forest and to a pretty immense series of waterfalls. The track was steep with a few scrambles up trees and rock fall but the effort was well worth it, and chatting to a few locals they had been informed by a guide that this was perhaps the best half day hike in South Island, New Zealand. A statement!!

Lake Marian is in a hanging valley formed by glacial action, reflecting the Darran Mountains surrounding it. We waited for the low cloud to lift and a few blue spots of sky joined us too. It was pretty amazing and we worked up a good sweat along the way. Heading back was much quicker and less of an effort but we still had to be careful as parts of the path was slippery and steep.

When we left the parking area we drove down to Gunns Camp which had been recommended to us by friends Vic and Dave. It’s a quirky place with a lot of history and a free museum for guests which is well worth a peek. We learned a little about the legend of Davey Gunn aswell as taking some time to photograph the campground with it’s cabins and funny oddities lying around the place. It cost £12 each to stay in our van and they have good cooking facilities and a spacious common room. We enjoyed cooking a pretty fabulous dahl which was taken from the Wholemeal Cookbook purchased in Takaka. We know it was good because our American friends tried it and were raving on about it too! ha ha!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

The day started with rain, so we packed up and drove back into Queenstown where we stocked up on some food from the supermarket and the Mediterranean Market on Robins road. They stock loads of international goodies too but it’s all a little too tempting so we settled with what we needed and got out!

The drive to Te Anau took around 3 hours and when we arrived the weather was looking much better. Our first stop was at the DOC office where we bought a $2 leaflet highlighting all of the half and one day walks in the area. As we don’t have the best backpacks for hiking we didn’t want to go out on one of the classc 3-4 day walks, which would have been really good.

The most popular tramp in New Zealand is the Milford Sound Track and we knew when we arrived in Auckland back in November that there wouldn’t be any space for this hike until March. The Routeburn and Kepler Tracks are really popular also and so we do vow to complete one of these great walks when we return to New Zealand in the future. (This has already been decided!) From Te Anau we booked a kayak tour of the Milford Sound departing on the 17th, meaning we would have a few days to explore Fiordland and do a few hikes.

That afternoon we hiked at the end of the Kepler Track for around 3 hours which took us to the last hut on the walk, the Moturau Hut. We stopped for a few pics before sand-flies ascended upon us and we turned around quickly to head back to the van. We camped that night at the free DOC campground located at Queens Reach. After finding a pleasant spot to camp amongst the many other campers we cooked our meal and enjoyed an evening of food and Peep Show.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

It was quite a drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka so we broke up the journey with an overnight stop at the DOC campground located at the top of Lake Wanaka. We had a pretty slow start to the day with some photographs of the masses of drift wood that has collected on its shores. We took in the scenery that surrounded us and then made tracks to Wanaka town.

It was only a further hours journey from that point until we reached the town where there was a little craft market taking place on the fields opposite the lake. Not much for us to buy but it is a great market for gifts, jewellery and pottery amongst other things. We then nipped over to the I-Site to get some info on the area and to see where we would be camping for the next few nights. We were interested in a Lord of The Rings tour, but at over $150 it was far too much on our budget.

We took advantage of a discount offer for the Lake Outlet Camping Ground that we found in the I-Site, it was an offer of 12% per night so we snapped this up and drove out to the camp ground. Lake Outlet is 8km out of town on the south-west shores of the lake, they have a very Mediterranean feel about the place and we instantly liked it, for $23 it wasn’t badly priced either. We found our spot and decided to hire some bikes for the afternoon.

We took the lake trail back towards Wanaka and ended up at the Rippon Vineyards where Helen had previously enjoyed a wine tasting. This time though things had changed and the vineyard have built a big wine cellar building on the top of a hill overlooking the vineyards and lake. They are in a beautiful location and we enjoyed sampling their special Riesling and Pinot Noir. On our way back to the campground we bumped into Uta and Oliver and convinced them to stay at the same campground as us.

The bike hire cost us $15 each for 3 hours which we felt was a fair price. Back at camp we worked on the blog and enjoyed another tasty dinner with Uta and Oliver before sharing our Sky-dive video with them and still feeling nervous watching it again.

We didn’t do much the next day, and opted for a working day. Something that we hadn’t done for a while. So we continued to work on the blog at the camp ground and drove out to get some food and fuel later on before carrying on with work! A bit of a nothing day but Helen did manage to catch up with Lois which was just lovely!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

The first of January 2012! Happy New Year to all who read our blog, we really appreciate you! We didn’t start our new year with hangovers, nor did we go out the night before and party in busy Kaikoura. Instead we opted for a quiet start to 2012, we did enjoy a few drinks in the town including some generous free wine sampling, but decided to head back to our van to cosy up ready to see in the New Year together.

The main reason for us not going out and getting a little tipsy was that we had a 5.30am appointment with the Dusky Dolphins in the Pacific Ocean. Something we had pre-booked as we couldn’t get any other dates to do the swim and we wanted to fit it into our agenda before heading back to Christchurch. So up at 4.55am we were ready and willing by 5.20am at the Dolphin Encounter center located 5 minutes down the road. Checked in and grouped up we grabbed our wetsuits, flippers, hoods and snorkelling gear ready for a 20 minute video presentation of what to expect and a little bit of history on the area.

Kaikoura is on a rocky peninsula where the sea opens out to a deep canyon providing a rich  habitat for marine mammals and seabirds. The main reason for tourists to visit the area is to whale watch, and enjoy encountering albatross and dolphins amongst many other species. The town itself has lost any charm of being a quaint seaside village and has opened up to commercialisation in a big way with large pubs, a subway, supermarkets and eateries. Further down the main street towards the peninsula though it does still hold onto a more local feel and isn’t so condensed.

The Dolphin Encounter company have been operating tours in Kaikoura since 1989 and is ran by locals, they’re a friendly team, but it must be tough having to get up at 5am every day to run these tours. After our introduction we got a bus to the jetty located on the South Bay where 2 boats were ready to take us out to sea. There was quite a swell on the ocean waves and we had a bit of a bumpy journey heading out. After around 15-20 minutes we spotted our first group of dolphins but this was a small group so we continued further until there was a larger group for us to swim with. At the sound of the horn we all got into the chilly waters and swam out to the dolphins, it didn’t take long for us to have a few around us and so the silly noises began. We were encouraged to communicate and interact with the dolphins to keep them interested in us. They are really sociable creatures and so the more you play the longer they stay!

After the first swim we got back on the boat and found the main pod of dolphins, from this point on we enjoyed 2 further swims, with around 10-15 minutes in the water each time. It was a truly magical experience, they really are playful mammals and it’s really good fun being in the water with them. You can’t touch them or try to interfere but you can swim in circles with them and make eye contact. Unfortunately for Dave he suffered from some sea sickness which seemed to have a knock on effect on board.

When the swimming was over we were back on the boat and enjoyed watching the dolphins from the side of the boat. Here we could see them doing flips, jumps and a few were mating. We both loved the experience, even with Dave’s sick bucket accompanying him. Fortunately for Jess (our guide) she was used to coping with other people’s sea-sickness and was fully prepared.

We were out on the water for about an hour and a half with around 30-40 minutes in the water with the dolphins. Helen has had this experience before when she was here in 2009 and although the weather was better then, it was still a wonderful experience. She loved doing the encounter again. On the boat journey out and coming back we saw a lot of Albatross on the sea chilling out, taking off and flying. Some with a wing span of over 3.5m! We do feel that we have become a little geeky on the whole bird-watching front, but you don’t see this amount of marine life and seabirds every day so it was pretty exciting for us!

So this was the start to 2012 for us, swimming in the sea with the Dusky Dolphins…not bad! This is our last activity in New Zealand, and all of the adventurous, exhilarating things that we have done have been really worth while. (The Dolphin Encounter cost us each $170 NZD and there were roughly 12 people per boat)

After hot showers and some much needed food we were back in the van for her final long journey back to Christchurch. We were tired back at the South Brighton Holiday Park so we chilled out after an energetic spell on the trampoline and finished our evening with a walk along the beach to the New Brighton Pier, it was a beautiful evening.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Video and photos taken on a Sony DSC-TX5 underwater camera & an Olympus Pen with a 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens

We struggled to find a place to camp the night before on our way over to the Nelson region from Blenheim, so we opted for a roadside freedom spot where another van was parked up. It’s tricky knowing what is possible on the freedom camping side of things but we definitely felt reassured by the fact that another van was already parked for the night.

The reason we were heading over this way was because we were due to skydive at 11am on the 3rd in Motueka with Skydive Abel Tasman. Unfortunately it was a thick, cloudy start to the day so we went straight to the Motueka airfield to have a chat with the skydive company. They wanted to push us back to 1.30pm, we were okay with this but the outlook wasn’t so good. We opted to work on the blog and editing at an internet/sushi cafe on the main street in Motueka and by noon we figured the weather wasn’t going to change and decided to postpone the skydive until Monday and go back to Nelson to take advantage of being in a town and some finer weather for Helen’s birthday night out!

We backtracked and drove to Nelson whilst stopping en-route for lunch at the Ruby coastal scenic drive where we found a handy little campsite that would become useful to us over the next few days. We were in Nelson by the afternoon and checked into the Nelson Holiday Park which at $36 would be our most expensive night camping in NZ yet. However on the plus side we could walk into town, there were free showers and a decent kitchen too.

On our way into central Nelson we passed by an eclectic vintage and antiques shop supplying everything from bone china teapots to retro posters, old picnic sets to mannequins, and clothes to furniture. We love these kind of places as they give us ideas for our future home! The owner was more than happy for us to take some photos as we explored her vast collection.

When we got into central Nelson we stopped by the Art Deco Cathedral before taking the steep path up to the centre of New Zealand. There is a monument marking the spot and great views across Nelson and the mountain ranges beyond. Back in Nelson we had some good pub grub and cider at Mac’s home brewing pub ‘The Vic’, there was a good atmosphere and we liked the way Mac’s is branded. It’s also really good to see so many local brews leading the way. We ended our evening at The Free House a converted church where some live Blues was taking place. We had intended to enjoy the live music but instead we opted for a bottle of a local Sauvignon Blanc whilst enjoying the ambience.

The following day was Helen’s birthday and first thing Dave baked a lemon drizzle poppyseed cake! Woooop! Happy birthday to me happy birthday to me….

For the rest of the day it rained and rained so we didn’t take many photos. We opted for the Nelson Museum, the Sutra Gallery and popped into Mountain Designs to have a quick catch up with Brian aka Two Backpackers who we know from twitter. Small world.

Later on we drove back to Motueka to watch a film at their local artsy cinema Gecko. We opted for Submarine which we both enjoyed immensely and vowed to own it in our DVD collection soon! We ended the day with fish and chips from the Happy Chippy on the main street, although we had bought food for dinner it was raining so heavily we couldn’t cook anywhere and nothing else was open!

That night we camped at the $6 a night campground that we’d stopped at the day before on the Ruby Coast. It was pretty flooded but we found a decent spot and the rain eventually calmed down.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)