Day 10. Bernard Troubles

It seems bumpy beginnings is a continuing trend. After managing to catch 3, maybe 4, hours sleep (which is an improvement on our night at Mistletoe Bay) we eventually admitted defeat and got up, to find that the two other couples we were sharing the camping site with had already gotten off. It was a little weird being literally in the middle of nowhere, kind of nice too though. Aside from the fact they must have left ridiculously early everything went smoothly, we packed up the car and got ready in barely any time, so far so good until...

Bernard wouldn’t start. Not like last time where he was chuddering and then stopping. Oh no, this time he literally did nothing. We turned the key, there was a click and then… nothing.

We suspected a flat battery and after ringing Axel (he had a flat battery a week ago) it was confirmed. Bernard was outa charge. Now here comes the fun bit, we’re in the middle of nowhere, Mistletoe Bay (the last sighting of civilization) was over an hours walk and there’d be no guarantee they’re have jump leads. So we ended up standing by the side of the road and just holding our hands out. On any other road in NZ this really would be an amazing idea as Kiwi’s are renown for their helpfulness, the problem wasn’t that we didn’t think people would stop, it was the fact there was no one to stop. The road was deserted - after driving for two hours yesterday we saw a grand total of 1 other car.

I can’t even begin to explain how incredibly lucky we were, after about 5 minutes a car drives up and stops (two men working for Marlborough lines) and although they didn’t have jump leads they offered to at least tow the car up to the road (the campsite was down a pretty steep hill). And about  just as they were driving down to help us another car pulls up (this time a man working for the department of conservation who was emptying waste) and fortunately he actually has jump leads!

Long story short George must have left the lights on, we charged Bernard up, thanked them all profusely and finally got on our way!

The drive to Nelson was long, and full of twists, and sharp turns but we managed to get here without stopping (although we both spent a good portion of it being nauseous). We thought about stopping at Pelorous Bridge but neither of us could face another night camping. Sadly we saw it as we drove past and it was beautiful, I wish we could have stopped but we really just wanted to get to Nelson - plus we were too scared to stop the car!

My attempt at taking a photo of the view down to Nelson

 The van that was going 30 on a 100 road! There was massive queue not long after I took this photo!

We’ve checked into our hostel, The Bug, which is very cute, and the rest of today I think we’re just going to relax, sleep, eat and decide what to do on the next leg of our New Zealand adventure!

P.S I'm covered in insect (mosquito) bites! It's annoying because I've been using buy repellent and George hasn't yet I've got over ten giant big red blobs while he only had two little red dots!

Day 7. Queen Charlotte

After a bit of an early start, I gave mum a quick ring, then set out on a walk around Picton as George was still fast asleep and I wanted to make the most of what was beginning to look like a beautiful day. Me and Axel walked along the harbor side for a bit before Axel, claiming tiredness, went back while I carried on exploring. Men. I managed to find ‘Bob’s Bay Track’ which finishes at a little bay with safe-swimming water. It was a really lovely walk, which only had a couple of scary sections where there’d been landslides and I had to skirt across, and the views were perfect throughout!

The view along the walk

 And what I saw whenever I looked down!

 I still can't get over how clear the water was!

 And the view when I finally made it to Bob's bay!

 Some of the beautiful shells scattered along the coastline 

The bay was lovely and it was great to paddle along the shore and admire the purple and blue shells after a walk in the midday sun (I obviously didn’t think through the timing of the walk). I dawdled at the bay for a while but I realized I’d left my phone with Axel and I didn’t want him to be waiting for me as we hadn’t agreed on a time to set off. After rushing back to the hostel (most of which was uphill) I find George in a hammock having just gotten out of the hot tub and Axel dozing on the sofa.

The route to Havelock 

 at one of the look out spots you could pull into

We did eventually set off, after I rallied everyone (it really shouldn’t be so hard for three people to be ready at the same time), and we took the Queen Charlotte Drive across Marlborough Sound. The drive was beautifully scenic with lots of look-out-points, a few of which we stopped off at. The downside though was the road was very twisty, there were a couple of turns which were painfully sharp and by the end of it we were all feeling a little nauseous!

 Coming into havelock 

 Our view while we ate dinner on the patio of the hostle

Me winning at Risk (even though I'd never played it before and Axel and George claimed to be pros!)

We arrived in Havecock in one piece, just. Found a hostel and were about to settle down for the night when we were told about a waterfall track which if you took at night allowed you to see glowworms up close. Well we couldn’t pass up that chance so after playing risk until the sun went down me and George borrowed some torches and went for a walk up a very steep, muddy path. We actually almost missed the glowworms as we were so busy trying to maneuver a particularly narrow and wet section that we didn’t notice the cliff wall was filled with glow worms! It was obviously impossible to take a photo but it was absolutely beautiful.

Axel heads to Nelson tomorrow while me and George are taking the Kenepuru road up Marlborough Sound, bring on tomorrow! 

P.S we passed two women on bikes twice on the road here (we passed them, then pulled up not long after at a look out & then we ended up having to pass them again) and when we were sat playing risk they walked into the hostel! They said 'hello again' so they clearly remembered us too! Such a small world!