Northbound

Our travels around the South Island are winding to an end. Fall has really arrived now, bringing grey, rainy days. Luckily we had sunny weather through almost our entire trip, right up to Kikoura, our last 'destination'. The locals and our friends tell us that we've had an incredible run with the sun - this has been their best summer-fall ever, because of the drought.
We've been making our way slowly up the east coast, staying on beautiful beaches that remind us of Oregon - mostly because of the weather! The hikes we've been going on have been shorter and we come back soaked by the rain, but there are still awesome views to see, we just can't see as far as on the clear days but the clouds and mist make them quite dramatic.

By highway, its only about 20 minutes from Blenheim to Picton. Because we have the luxury of time, we were able to spend two days taking the scenic coastal route. Half of the road is metal (gravel), half sealed (paved) and winds up and down the hills dropping into numerous little coves and fishing villages looking out into the Queen Charlotte Sound, part of the Marlborough Sounds. We stopped at a DOC (dept. of conservation; very basic) campsite and spent the night, checking out the hike to the viewpoint and beach walk to the rock arch. Today we drove the remainder of the route, stopping at scenic outlooks - looking out at what we admired on our way to the island 7 weeks ago from the ferry.
It's bittersweet leaving the South Island, a place that is hard to describe with words alone but we are looking forward to seeing our friends the Whites and the Duffy's, and we still have our Tahiti adventure ahead.