Exploring the South Island

Picton, originally uploaded by Frickley.

On 16th Jan we caught the ferry to the South Island. Unfortunately, we unknowingly booked the Bluebridge ferry (the cheapest), but turns out the car rental drop off/pick up points on the North and South Islands are a distance away from the car hire places at a different ferry terminal. This meant that we had to drop off the car and then lug our stuff to a different ferry terminal before boarding. The 3.5 hour journey went smoothly (though we got surrounded by shouting kids, much to James' annoyance as one spilt their drink on him!). Once we got to the South Island, we faced a further trek from the arrival terminal to collect our next hire car. Nevertheless, we got there safely and spent our first night in Picton, a pretty port. The following day we drove to Kaikoura, staying only for one night before driving to Greymouth. Although the driving distances in NZ are a lot less than those we drove in Oz, the roads here are very winding so speeding along is not an option. The roads are so wiggly-waggly in fact, that both J and I have suffered travel sickness (though I think J's may also be linked to a small hangover!).

Tomorrow we are going for a long walk to explore the scenery, before driving to the Franz Josef glacier on 20th.....