Nelson & Picton

July 28- Aug 2

The landscape looks a lot like British Columbia here and it gets a little disorientating when the towns are called Nelson, Richmond and Picton. We stayed in Nelson for 3 nights and Picton for 2 nights. Unfortunately, it rained most of the time we were here, so needless to say this will be a short blog because we didn’t do a whole lot of sightseeing.

We arrived in Nelson on a Saturday evening after driving up to the farewell spit and Cape Farewell. Nelson is a pretty big city by Southern New Zealand standards. We headed out for a night on the town and did a bit of a pub crawl and found some more great live bands. Sunday the rain lightened up a bit so we ignored our rule we had made in Queenstown about hiking hung-over and did the “Centre of New Zealand” walk. This “walk” was a steep, muddy climb that went to the top of a hill that was used by surveyors and deemed to be the centre of New Zealand. The view from the top was incredible but it was decided we should really stick to our rules in the future. We also did some sightseeing around town. You can definitely see why it is so popular in the summer. There are a lot of great restaurants and things to do. They have a beautiful garden in the centre of town and plenty of great walking paths that go along the coast.

On Monday we got some errands done and had a wonderful dinner at “The BoatShed” that overlooked the harbour. We had some delicious seafood chowder which I absolutely love here; followed by some amazing fish and lamb dishes.

On Tuesday we took the stunning Queen Charlotte Drive from Nelson to Picton. The narrow road winds its way around the sounds in the area and is well worth the trip. We arrived in Picton with more rain and spent some time watching the Olympics on our trailer TV. The TV coverage is pretty limited to Kiwi participants only so it has been a little frustrating not knowing how Canada is doing. We heard the women’s soccer game against the USA was really good. The only time we get to see any Canadians is if they are competing against the Kiwis. On Wednesday we explored town and Neal got an overdue and very nice haircut. We relaxed for the evening and got ready to take the ferry to Wellington in the morning. Like I said sorry it’s not a very exciting Blog post. 

Summary: Nelson- Several good restaurants, a fun Saturday night atmosphere, nice pathways, hikes and gardens. Looks like good beaches (we didn’t test any out). Picton- there is not much to do unless you are taking the Ferry. Blenheim is 30min drive away and the Queen Charlotte Drive is a great way to get there.

That is it for the South Island. We cannot say enough about how stunning the scenery is, how amazingly friendly the people are, and how impressed with the food and wine we have been! We absolutely recommend making a trip here one day. You will have more than enough to fill your days with and it will be a trip you won’t forget! Thank you South Island!

Now off to the North Island; first stop Wellington!

Talk to you soon! Love Laur