Day 40 - After 4000km: Farewell South Island!

23.01.2015

Due to breakfast, I have to wake up with an alarm clock once again. When you get breakfast...! It is prepared in the bar on the bar counter. There are two types of toast, orange marmalade, instant coffee, and waffles! However, at 9 o'clock sharp, they stop serving. I sit in the cozy courtyard until 11:00 am and search online for a hotel in Napier for tomorrow. Let's see if I might extend my stay there for another night.

I pack my things and squeeze as much as possible into the large bag so that I don't have to do it tonight in Picton. The sun shines from a bright blue sky. Nelson is the sunniest city in New Zealand and proves it today. I drive through the town again in search of something monumental, but I am no longer interested in the three old houses that you must see. Of course, there is also history in Nelson, which is around 100 years old.

In the backpacker hostel...

Nelson

Nelson

So at noon, I drive to Tahunanui Beach and lie down on the soft, warm sand, which has a completely different texture than the almost orange coarse-grained beach in Kaiteriteri. Eventually, two women speak to me, saying that my arms are very red... Although I had applied sun lotion with SPF 30, it is no longer enough after 1.5 hours.

My phone shows me an email from my hotel in Picton. The woman writes that if I arrive late, I should let myself in somewhere on the side, and we will settle the payment tomorrow. Well. When I booked it, I thought I would be coming from somewhere in Abel Tasman and only arrive in Picton around 9 p.m., and then take the ferry the next morning. But when I wanted to book the ferry, there was no morning ferry on Saturday, only the one at 6:30 a.m., which means I have to drop off my luggage by 5:30 a.m. So tomorrow, I have to leave the hotel, which is a bed and breakfast, at 5:00 a.m., and I won't get to enjoy it.

Since I won't be able to see the woman to pay due to my late arrival and early departure, I leave at 3 p.m., quickly get a real fruit ice cream with raspberries, and drive briefly to the monument for the early settlers. There, all the ships that arrived in Nelson around 1842 are listed, along with all the passengers. One ship called St. Pauli had only Germans on board. Families with 7 or more children. And most of the deaths on the month-long journeys were children under the age of 2.

At half past three, I finally leave Nelson, and the route is initially extremely curvy, so I decide not to take the shorter route over Queen Charlotte Drive from Havelock, but the longer route via Blenheim. I already drove Queen Charlotte Drive on January 4th from Picton. Great views, but extremely curvy. Besides, it's low tide now, which doesn't make the views as beautiful.

I arrive in Picton shortly after half past five, and the woman is relieved that I'm here so early. I go to the Seabreeze restaurant at the end of the main street for dinner and order moussaka with a small Greek salad. So delicious! I take one last wistful look at the Foreshore Park with the sailboats in the evening light and say goodbye to the South Island. Will I ever go to New Zealand again? At the moment, it's unimaginable. But who knows.

Picton Foreshore Park

Picton Queen Charlotte Sound

At the hotel, I sort out the car, and then I remember that I haven't refueled yet. So I do that too, and I go to bed at 9:30 p.m. The alarm is set for 4:20 a.m....

Daily distance: 145km

Total Kilometers South Island: 3,996 km