Oh bugger :(

Not the best day. Woke up a bit jaded from the night before.

Decided to break the cycle of driving every day by skipping ahead on the itinerary and driving direct to Rotorua in the North and staying there for 2 nights so we would have time to visit and do stuff properly. Should have been a 6 hr drive as the roads were fast. Very windy still - van was being blown about all over the place.

Next thing a tyre blew doing 100 km/hr on a long straight! Unbelievable! Took almost 2 hours to change it by the roadside in the rain. Not happy :(

Well sheer determination payed off and we got going again. Still mega windy down something called Desert Highway but made better progress.

Got to Rotorua around 7pm tired and dirty. At least the weather is a lot better now so fingers crossed for tomorrow.....

Ok so now we is going out out!

Well found some more bars and seemed rude to turn down 3 shooters for $10 so we had 6!

Slippery slope slid down we decided to carry on! A proper night out out!

Too late and incompetent to get bus home so got a taxi.

Out in Wellington

Off the ferry and then checked in to camp site. Bus dropped us at Courtney Place which seemed to be pretty much the centre of all the night life. Wellington really great place - really busy and fun. Started working our way around the bars and then went to a gastro bar - had the best beef Wellington in Wellington! Actually the best full stop so well happy :)

Weather bright but mega windy 140 km/hr winds!!!! Got blown all over the place!

Goodbye South Island

On the ferry to Wellington. Booked Kaitaki Plus class so we got plush sofas, hot and cold lunch options, Internet and free drinks - nice one! Who says we can't travel in style :-)

Weather picking up as sun is shining if a little windy. Looking forward to North Island now and hopefully no more rain and twisty roads!

Edwin Fox

A little time to kill before checking in for the ferry to North Island. Popped in to town for a wander around and a coffee. The Edwin Fox is supposed to be the 9th oldest ship in the world and I must say I could believe it as all that was left was a pile of rotten wood. Brian read that it was the 8th oldest ship so I guess they must have build an older one! ;-)

Glow worms

Went into town before dinner. Took a very dark track along the rail road into town (very very dark on the return!). Was about midnight by the time we finished dinner. Decided to creep up to the end of the camp site where there was a spooky track to see glow worms. Crept up with the torch shushing each other and found like a little grotto full of tiny neon blue lights. Never seen that before. Managed to get this photographic evidence to prove it wasn't the pints of Kilkenney in the Irish pub and the bottle of red with dinner making us see stars!

Arrived in Picton in one piece!

Ok so the journey to Picton was interesting. Took the Queen Charlotte's Drive i.e. the scenic route through possibly the mostest longest twistiest road imaginable! Stopped off at a lookout and got told off by a studded hickey local yocal as apparently we didn't see the sign saying no camper vans. I strongly suspect that really all the tourists were interfering with his dogging more than anything else!

Arrived at the camp site which was right under a freight train track. The trains went right over our van shaking it about every time! Scary!

Camp site was quite an experience too as it was full of tattooed hicks camped up for the season. What with the huge family next door, the ducks running under our van, the caged parrots and the trains quite a place to stay! More character than Butlins though!