Nelson and Canterbury

The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant so we chose to go north again to the top of the south island.

Back to the Abel Tasman national park.  Spent one night at the bottom end and the other at the top end. With a trip to a couple of beaches in between.  Fording rivers and driving along lots (!) of very narrow roads.

Lots of sunshine to start with and then the weather turned a bit colder.

Drove along to the Marlborough Sounds and lots more winding roads.
Spent the night in Okiwi Bay (nothing there but the campsite and a restaurant that opened 3 days a week none of them whilst we were there). More windy roads and several photo stops took us to French Pass. There’s an impressive tidal race there as there is an island very near to the mainland. Beautiful weather and then drove back through the clouds and forests down to Blenheim.

Felt like summer had returned again here and also in Kaikoura. Dolphins jumping out of the water and lots of seals basking on the beaches.

Down to Lyttelton near Christchurch and I think it was around 26 degrees. Spent a couple of evenings catching chickens. Adam got 5 new chickens and they decided to make a bid for freedom into the next door garden. On the first evening we went out after dark with torches and climbed over the fence and went on a chicken hunt.  Found 3 in a tree and managed to catch two but the third one didn’t like the commotion and escaped whilst Adam was holding it. Left the others until the next night and found two more roosting in a tree. Caught them relatively easily. The last one has been left to its freedom for the moment. Today Adam clipped the wings on the four we caught so they shouldn’t disappear again.

It’s our last night in NZ as we are off to Brisbane tomorrow. We have to return the can on the way to the airport so have been busy cleaning it. Liam and Finn earned some pocket money vacuuming and polishing it. They especially enjoyed the hose and cleaning the outside. So much so that they cleaned their parents cars as well.

Sad to be leaving NZ after 8 weeks but looking forward to spending time in Australia.