The Swanson's New Zealand Trip

South Island North Coast: 22-24 May

Well, at this point in the trip, we did something really wild & crazy! Even though our tour package included airfare from Christchurch back to Auckland, we elected to stay on the South Island a bit longer. There was a whole lot of the island we hadn't seen, and we wanted to do so. So we "threw out" our return tickets and rented (hired) a car in Christchurch.

We rented from Omega Rental Cars, who were really very flexible. We were picked up at our Christchurch hotel and kept the car until we dropped it off in Picton to catch the interisland ferry. As we got off the ferry boat in Wellington, another car was waiting for us, and we finally dropped that one off at the Auckland airport. All for NZ$49/day, all fees (except gasoline) included. We were very, very pleased with the service we got from Omega.

Once we navigated out of Christchurch, we topped off the tank and headed north along M1. That route runs along the east (Pacific) coast and is a spectacular drive. Spectacular coastal routes also mean windy, hilly, twisty, and it is all done on the "wrong" side of the road! We quickly learned that the Kiwi's kindness evaporates when they get behind the wheel. They're very agressive drivers and we were tailgated the whole way, mostly because we were driving slower than the posted 100 Km/hr limit due to our unfamiliarity with the roads.

We got to Blenheim in late afternoon and had a choice of proceeding north toward Picton or northwest toward Nelson. We chose the latter and made it as far as the small coastal town of Havelock, about 350 km north of Christchurch. Havelock is on the Marlborough Sound and is known for its mussel beds. We got a room at the Garden Motel and spent quite a bit of time trying to find the heat (Winter was following us up from Queenstown!) Dinner was, of course, at the Mussel Boys restaurant, famous for their mussels (duh?) They can be found right on the main highway with the roof full of mussels. Yummy!

The next morning we drove to Nelson, the "sunshine capital of New Zealand". It was raining buckets when we arrived in mid morning... We spent the night there, enjoying good food and a fun town to visit. After lunch we drove north a bit around the Tasman Bay. We got as far north as Motueka and then retraced our route. We stopped at the small port of Mapua where we bought some of the most fantastic smoked salmon. Easily the best either of us have ever eaten!

Thursday morning we headed back east as far as Havelock, where we took the "scenic" route to Picton. This Marlborough area of South Island is spectacular! When we return to NZ, we will spend more time in this area. We had reservations on the 1:30 P.M. Interislander, so we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. Despite really narrow & windy roads hugging very scenic bays, we got to Picton around 11. Lunch in town, then we turned in our rental car & checked our luggage at the ferry terminal. But more about that in the Wellington section.

The "thumbnails" following this narrative are a select subset of our North Coast images. They may be "enlarged" by clicking on them with your mouse pointer. Enjoy!

On the road, in our Nissan Bluebird	Lunch at a Cafe north of Christchurch	The Pacific coastline north of Christchurch	More coastline	The Maori influence brings a touch of Hawai'i
Starting twisty mountain roads	The Mussel Boys in Havelock	The Tasman Bay	Harbor at Mapua	Filling the tank in Nelson
Preparing our smoked salmon in our Nelson motel room	Mapua smoked salmon, so ono...	Planning tomorrow's route	On the road again...	Havelock, Marlborough Bay
One of the bays between Havelock and Picton	Another bay	Picton	Picton: an enlightened town!	Picton's war memorial

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