It was amazingly sunny again, and Picton looked like nothing like when we had arrived with the ferry in the rain.  A van drove us down Charlotte Dr. where they dropped us off with a kayak.  It was very relaxing to paddle around the stunning Marlborough Sounds.

The sounds from Picton

We saw lots of various birds, sea stars, and lots and lots of blue mussels.  Unfortunately, it was one of those days where my camera decided not to work, and Hendrik didn’t take his kayaking for obvious reasons.  It was lovely, and afterwords we drove to Kaikoura.  It was the same drive we had done on our first day on the southern island and this time it was more gorgeous.

We saw fur seals along the way and once in Kaikoura we walked a bit on the Kaikoura Peninsula where there were pretty views.  It was our last night in New Zealand and the next day we drove to Christchurch airport.

Kaikoura Peninsula

The next day we set off to Nelson.  On the way we stopped by the Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks which are pictured on too many postcards and in every guidebook.  When Hendrik tried his camera it wouldn’t turn on so he became very frustrated right away.  I then remembered that I had a camera too and should have taken that one on the glacier instead.  Unfortunately, it was very temperamental and randomly refused to work and right now was one of those times.  It only seemed to work when I didn’t need it so in a way it was good we had Hendrik’s on the glacier.  We walked on the short path around the pancake rocks, but unfortunately the mood had been ruined by the dead camera, and Hendrik didn’t care at all about the nicely stacked flat rocks and just wanted his camera to work.  He predicted that the rain had fried the inside of it.  Too bad we didn’t have a camera because it was more spectacular than I thought it would be.

Stock photo compliments of the NZ govt

We stopped briefly in Nelson and lo-and-behold the camera began to work again so all was right in the world, and Hendrik could enjoy the vacation again.  Nelson was a typical New Zealand town with a cute beach and a statue of Able Tasman.  Then we continued further to Marlborough Sounds and hoped for better weather than last time.  It was 100% better, and the sounds looked stunning in the sun.  We drove down the scenic route from Charlotte to Picton and even went on the side “scenic route” called Kenepara Road.  It was not worth it to go down the road since it was just windy and trees along the road blocked any view.

It was sunny when we arrived to Picton and it looked like the whole town had a facelift from when we were there before.  It is amazing what the sun can do for the scenery because suddenly Picton wasn’t this shabby ugly town we just wanted to leave but an adorable village surrounded by the most spectacular scenery.  Since it is the driest part on New Zealand we were actually pretty unlucky the first time around.  We booked a kayak tour for the next day, and then I finally got to play mini golf.

Picton (Christmas Tree)

Today we went on a kayaking tour.  We wanted to go sea kayaking, and the tour promised sea kayaking. Unfortunately the sea part of it was very brief but we did spend a lot of time going through, under and around mangroves. I think mangroves are cool but I think there is a maximum amount of mangroves that a single person should see in their lifetime and I definitely OD’ed. In between the mangroves in the taller trees there were hordes of bats so many of them that they turned the tops of the trees black as they all slept upside down. The guide started to make noise by clapping and bashing his oar on the kayak, so we all did it and the bats would wake up and squeal and start flying around in a panic. Yes, it was a bit cruel waking the creatures up in the middle of their night, but it was really impressive.

Stockton Beach

The following day we drove down to Port Stephens home of Stockton Beach which has sand dunes that stretch almost to Newcastle. The campsite we stayed at was right next to the beach and this is the first campsite where we saw lots of permanent residences where a shed was attached at the side to the door of a trailer. So it was a bit depressing for to see and since we were practically the only motor home there we felt very out of place. We went for a walk on the beach and saw the most spectacular sun set. I had booked a tour of the beach for the next morning, and since the rain started that night I was scared that it would be cancelled which made me sad since this was one of the things I was looking forward to from the start of the trip.