Back on the Road

Saturday 18 January

Time to move on - from Abel Tasman in the northwest-ish to Kaikoura on the East coast.

Linus said "Totsiens" to Blyda, her lovely AirBnB hostess, who very helpfully came out to the kerbside with her and the Minions so that we could pick her up without getting stuck in a cul-de-sac! Had a wee hiccup though as one of the rear indicators on Banjo had failed to work when we reconnected the cabling so we put out an urgent call for advice from the Snowy River forums - again! Ten minutes later we pulled over and performed a miracle fix thanks to the Snowy hive mind.

After this minor hiccup we were on our way - back through Nelson, Havelock, Pelorus Bridge, Rapaura, Blenheim and then across the hills to the coast at Kekerengu and on down to Kaikoura.

We had a quick stop at Pelorus Bridge to show Linus the fabulous swimming holes there, and we wandered along to the suspension bridge to get my knees working and have a photo opp where the rivers Rai and Pelorus meet.

From here it was just half an hour or so back to our old haunt at Nick Goldschmidt's vineyard on Rapaura Road where we took advantage of the free parking, returned the shed key that I had accidentally taken with us and then we popped over the road to introduce Linus to the delights of the Roots Gin Shack - she did a tasting while Louis and I stuck to the mocktails and we all enjoyed a delicious small plate lunch. Next stop was No.1 Family Estate just down the road to buy a couple of bottles of bubbly for Jez for his 50th next month.

After sharing the madness of the railway versus road system in the heart of Blenheim with Linus, we left familiar territory for this trip and headed for the east coast. The road passed thousands more vines, wound through hills covered in blond, sun scorched grasses, past a large salt flat, alongside the railway track, under it, over it and sometimes losing sight of it - until we finally spotted the glorious aquamarine waters of the sea and eventually popped out onto the coast at Kekerengu. We arrived just a chopper was taking off which was cool, and grabbed a couple taof coffees and a slice to go before wandering out onto the beach and spotting a seal bobbing in the waves with one fin in the air (apparently for heat regulation). The beach comprised slate grey sand and flat, rounded stones and was wild & stunning. There is a campground there which we will definitely return to for a few nights somewhere along the way.

The route now turned South along the coast offering stunning views and opportunities for sealife spotting. Sadly no dolphins or whales made an appearance but we stopped to see the seal colony at Ohau Point before settling in at the Top Ten in Kaikoura (smallest pitch yet!) and heading out for dinner at Zephyr.