At 7.30am sharp we were packed up and ready for the off … leaving Twizel and heading to Picton. We had lots of sandwiches, drinks and snacks ready for what we predicted to be an 8-9 hour journey, Steve and Greg taking it in turns at the wheel. Kaye and I naturally giving great moral support from the back seat.

And today the sun was SO strong it was literally blinding (why not yesterday!!). Albeit from a distance, we did manage to see Mount Cook in its full glory as we passed.

Part of the journey was a return of the drive down …. again we stopped at Fairlie so Steve could stock up on pies … and again we passed through ‘Geraldine’ and saw the many signs of shops and cafes belonging to Geraldine!! But, as there had been so many roadworks on the way down, Steve and Greg had decided to take a different route through the mountains to avoid the numerous stop/go signs. Was that a wise decision!? My assessment of that would probably have been a NO! It was scariest mountain range we had driven through in terms of height, drops, no barriers at the side of the roads … because hardly anyone else used that road! Our men did a great job, naturally, and it might have been a bit quicker, but it was an eyes shut job from the back!! I couldn’t even open my eyes to snack!!!

The weary drivers swapped over every 2-3 hours and we all stopped for drinks, lunch etc occasionally …. we finally arrived in Picton about 4.30pm. So relieved to find we had a gorgeous house for the night, in fact so sad it was one night only. We met the owners, John and Gaylene, who vacate their beautiful home for their airbnb guests and live in a caravan down the road – one asks why!!? And we had WI-FI- the first time in 4 days, how exciting is that!!?

Loved this billboard that we saw in town, hanging outside a Backpackers’ hostel.

After a rest and a huge Wi-fi catch up, we wandered into town, only a 10 minute stroll. We’d been to Picton when we first arrived on the South Island so we knew our way around. Walked around the harbour area, admiring all the boats once again, saw the cruise liner docked up, then it was time to hit the bars. Had a beautiful dinner of local salmon whilst overlooking the harbour and beach.

Another stroll after dinner, back to the house. There was some building works going on and huge yellow diggers were just parked up for the night – a young boy’s dream – I know two little boys in Weymouth who would have loved to climb up onto one of those!!

And we had a hot tub … so it would have been rude not to use it … and of course you have to drink wine in a hot tub.

Cheers 🍷🍷