Volcanic Views

We woke up to a fantastic view of Mt Tongariro this morning - plus more than a dozen rabbits on the lawn outside!



And in the other direction was Mt Ruapehu with a little snow still in place.

Grand Chateau

On the spur of the moment, we decided to book into the Grand Chateau at Whakapapa tonight for our half-way stop on the way back to Auckland.



We managed to secure a room with a view of Mt Ruapehu and a rather threadbare carpet... The hotel has a rather faded grandeur now but it still reminds us of The Shining.

Carry on Camping

We travelled back across the Cook Strait today on the Inter-Islander to Wellington. When I looked down at the vehicle deck, I couldn't believe the number of campervans making their way north.

Swimming with Seals

Whale watching and dolphin diving are rather passe now so for my birthday we decided to go swimming with seals.

The coast at Kaikoura is home to a good number of New Zealand's 60,000 fur seals. Once hunted until close to extinction, the fur seal population is now growing stronger.

We took a boat out to a breeding colony where the seals are territorial on land but curious and full of fun in the water. Kitted out in wetsuits, snorkels and flippers, we were able to watch the new pups learning to swim in the rock pools and we floated close to the kelp where the older seals dived and played.



Afterwards, we warmed up again on the sunny deck of a cafe and tucked into a huge crayfish each - the seafood that gave Kaikoura its Maori name - how could we refuse?

Molesworth Station

Molesworth Station, run by the Department of Conservation and Landcorp, consists of four pastoral leases which were surrendered to the Crown around the time of the Second World War having been decimated by rabbits and too many sheep. It's now home to around 10,000 beef cattle with merino stud farms on the fringes.



The 180km gravel road across the station is only open for about three months each year and we were lucky enough to be in the area at the right time. We enjoyed a stunning drive across dusty ranges dotted with wild flowers and bisected by gravel rivers.

Vin et Velos

Every view in Blenheim resembles a wine label.



Today we borrowed bikes from our bed and breakfast and took the Renwick Wine Tour. We dropped in at several vineyards - Framingham, Nautilus, Huia - and enjoyed one or two glasses of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, riesling, gewurtztraminer and pinot gris.

We stopped off at Riverlore, the gallery of Joanna Dudson Scott, a local artist who is inspired by the gravel riverbeds and looming mountain ranges of the South Island. She showed us how she is incorporating silt from the rivers into her paintings.



We finished up with a beer and a cider at the Moa Brewery, surrounded by vines but relying instead on local hops, malt, wheat, barley and apples.

InterIslander

We crossed the Cook Strait today, from Wellington to Picton on Kaitaki, an InterIslander ferry which I was amused to learn was once the Pride of Cherbourg. It's the biggest ship of the fleet and much more spacious than Aratere which we passed on the way across.



The dismal weather made for some fantastic views but the sun came out as soon as we reached the South Island...



...and as we entered Queen Charlotte Sound, we even had a dolphin escort...