Handing back the Hounds and Heading North

Sunday 28 December

Up early and packed much of our clobber out of the house and into Banjo before collecting Ella and Josh from the airport. We were delighted to see them again, but not nearly as excited as the hoodlums! 🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺

Had a lovely lunch on the deck then we said out farewells and hit the road north.

Paused in Cheviot, quick trip to the loos and the Harris Farm store for burgers for the BBQ, coffee, scone and a ginger crunch. Glad to see the upside down legs lady was sporting a new outfit… left to right - January/July/December!

We had planned to stop overnight in Kaikōura but with high winds forecast for the morning, we decided to push on to Blenheim via another wee break at Kekerengu. We brewed ourselves a tea and a coffee and had a wander on the beach where we spotted a cormorant/shag who took off on our arrival.

On the campsite, I met Angus the 3 year old Goldie and loved the games laid out for people to enjoy - including "disc petanque". This is such a cool camp ground - we definitely want to stay here one day.

Heavy clouds over Kaikōura made the coastal journey less scenic than usual, but by the time we reached Kekerengu the sun was peeping out again and the final stretch inland across the hills to Blenheim was glorious!

A lovely greeting from Jez, Abby & Harley (especially Harley!) as we arrived at the Goldschmidt Vineyard and we spent the evening catching up, though they were several drinks ahead of us! 😵‍💫