Picton and Blenheim

In pouring rain, we reached the camping site a few kilometers north of Picton on an uneventful drive. Well, it stopped raining in the evening and we were able to set up our tent. We had planned an extra day when booking the ferry to the North Island, so we stayed for 2 days.

This allowed us to take one last beautiful tour on the South Island the next day. We drove to Blenheim on a narrow and quite curvy gravel road, always along the fjords, enjoying the views of beaches, sea, and mountains. Impressive also at the end was the view of the wine town of Blenheim. A huge flat plain with vineyards in a checkerboard pattern. This is where a large part of New Zealand's wine is produced. Not really pretty or romantic, but impressive.

Before we drove back to Picton via the main road, we went shopping. Very funny: there was even Kölsch beer in the beer shelf! But brewed in Christchurch. Since I don't really like the stuff anyway and it was also quite expensive, we bought German cheap beer instead, this time it was Bitburger. With that, we enjoyed the last evening on the South Island in the evening sun, before we were supposed to take the ferry to Wellington the next day.