Day 7 - Nelson

We are now in Tahuna Beach Holiday Park resting up after a long day. I am trying out an L&P (lemon and paeroa) softdrink on Haylee's recommendation and enjoying it very much. I must say though that the packaging (brown) is less than inviting!

We woke early when our neighbours started to stir and then drove off (assuming they were also catching the early ferry), so we too got up and were off by 6.45 so we could get to the ferry well and truly before the 7.25 final check-in.

Thanks to the motorhome carpark place we had instructions on how to get to the Interislander Ferry Terminal (in case we didn't trust the GPS). We were about 4 cars back which was great, and then we sat there for the next 25 minutes. God knows what problems the motorhome at the check-in was causing. After he pushed on through the rest of us trailed through fairly quickly. By this time it was nearly the cut off which must be reasonably strict because there were definitely people in the line behind us that didn't make it on. As a result, Guy missed some sunrise photos, but the weather was a little questionable anyway so he thought it probabaly wouldn't have looked that great.



We drove the motorhome up the ramp and into its park for the journey before we headed up to the food court. Guy enjoyed a big kiwi breakfast - it had everything you could ever want and then more. I just had an apple for breakfast worried a little bit about how I'd cope on the ferry.



About half way in I started to feel just a little queazy so we shifted around to a spot towards the centre of the ferry rather than the window. This happened to be the Bar. Guy was busy researching his next computer upgrade and camera parts while I had a little nap on the bench. Didn't take long before we were docked in Picton and were called back to our cars.
Off the ferry, we headed straight towards Blenheim and not into Picton itself - not much to see there really. The roads today were quite windy as we made our way through forests, but we finished off with some coastal roads as we entered Nelson - but I'll get to that in a sec.

We stopped off at Blenheim for a bakery lunch as we didn't have any fresh rolls left. Went into Couplands Bakery ("Best in the South"... apparently!) and both had a sausage roll. No where near as good as the one I had in Auckland, but Guy really enjoyed his. Anyway, we left there and headed towards Nelson where we stopped off at South Street which, according to Lonely Planet, "contains a row of improbably quaint workers' cottages, built between 1863 and 1867 those in the know say it is the oldest fully intact street in NZ". It didnt' look that old to us! From here we continued just a little bit further to Tahuna Beach Holiday Park.




We are still calling ahead to our intended parks but almost always being told that there's no need to book... we both feel much better having checked though!

We frequented the 'dump station' for our second time and after that was all taken care of we headed back into Nelson to Woolworths to get some supplies (5 minute drive away). Tonight's dinner is a selection of lovely frozen meals to be reheated in the microwave. We have probably done all the cooking we will do for the whole trip already and plan to search out a steak place tomorrow night on recommendation from Felicity and Glen on the weekend before we left.

Guy took up the challenge of backing the motorhome into our current location because that seems to be the done thing. In doing so he backed into the fence, but no damage was done.





This park is quite nice and has lovely facilities - and is the cheapest yet @ $30. Probably the best shower yet! I am getting a little bit sick of having to bend backwards to wash my hair. Do they realise that not everyone is 5 foot tall!!!

I can't believe it's been nearly a week already which means that we will soon be parting ways with our home on wheels. I think we both have some mixed feelings about this. It's so handy just to jump in the back to grab food or clothes (or visit the powder room), but then again it is a bit cumbersome when we get into towns/cities.

Looking forward to a little sleep in before heading off to Hanmer Springs. No sightseeing as such tomorrow but we are booked in for a back massage there on Monday morning.