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)

We drove to Te Anau since Simon and Beata wanted to go to the cave there to see glowworms. I wanted to do adventure caving but my plan to go to Greymouth or Waitomo were vetoed. The cave in Te Anau does not have adventure caving at all.  Since Hendrik and I were staying a few days longer than the others we decided to go to Greymouth later instead. While they were off at the caves Hendrik and I found a campsite and relaxed there since Te Anau is a tiny town with nothing to do. After the others joined us again we decided to go play mini golf. We walked to it but no one was attending the stall. There was a number which I called and was told that they were closed. Basically the people working the mini-golf were too lazy to actually work it. I was very disappointed because I love mini golf and it took a while for me to convince the others to actually go with me. So we walked up and down the city about 8 times, which is basically only one block and went into some souvenir stores. I bought an umbrella since mine had been blown apart. Then we went to the only nice pub in the whole town and played pool and got served by a guy with a mullet.  It was so unremarkable that I don’t even have any pictures from this day.

A picture from Queenstown which I love.