mike & rhonda's latest adventure: Southward Bound

We have now landed on the South Island following a smooth sailing, 3 hour crossing on our large vehicle ferry from Wellington to Picton, via the Queen Charlotte passage which was very scenic on a perfect day. But first, a few comments on our North Island finish.
We last left you in Napier on the east coast, a very nice city re-created in 1931 following a devestating earthquake. The art deco architecture was very prominent in our walk around the city. We also found time to visit several wineries in the popular Hawke's Bay region. From there we drove south to Martinborough which is becoming well known for it's wines. The wineries were small but had friendly hosts that we chatted with while enjoying their white wine varietals. The town square was a short walk from our "for sale" hostel which could have used some easy maintenance and staging to help justify the $400K asking price........but we were on vacation and didn't own the property so we stayed in our happy place.
Our final stop was in Wellington, at the south end of the North Island. We toured the National Museum (Te Papa) which was a beautiful, inter-active showpiece with lots to see and do over it's 5 floors. We also stopped by Apex with our rental car to have a few minor things checked out and when we returned to pick up the car they had a newer and better one waiting for us, so that was a nice treat especially with 3 more weeks to go on the more challenging terrain of the South Island. While waiting for the car we took the Cable Car up to a hill overlooking the bay and downtown 'Welly' for some great views. We had a picnic lunch, paired with a Martinborough wine, and then toured the Botanic Gardens which included a lovely rose garden with over 100 varieties.....a few of which even Rhonda was unfamiliar with :-) Our only error in judgement might have been procuring a return ticket on the cable car since the garden walk was downhill. It was more exercise climbing back up the hill but I suppose that is the same thing as paying money to join a fitness club. We were also a little distressed to find our guesthouse was 25 km's from the downtown area in a suburb called Plimmerton but when we arrived it was all 'smiles'. Our room was wonderful as were the common areas, and it was right across the street from the ocean in which we had a refreshing swim (on a hot day). The bay that lay right in front of us had a fabulous sunset that evening and we could see the distant shore of the South Island. The next morning we hiked up Plimmerton Bay hill for some exercise and great views. We then stopped for lunch at the highly regarded local fish & chip store owned and operated by a hard working Greek couple where I was able to practice my 4-5 words from the Greek language. It was the best fish & chips I have ever had. Efharisto!
We are now in Nelson and enjoying another beautiful seaside city (45,000 people). Rhonda was feeling a little under the weather this morning so we passed our plans to drive to Abel Tasman NP for a sea-taxi / hiking experience and remained closer to our spacious guesthouse which was a former mansion and has great views of the city and harbour. We walked around most of the city enjoying the sights, including the Queen's Gardens, the River Walk, Christ Church Cathedral, the Cottages from 1860, the pretty downtown area, the harbour front parks and finally the Founders Historical Park which thankfully had a brewery on site to quench my thirst.
Tomorrow morning we will drive along the Buller River and gorge area, out to the west coast, where we will start heading further south (and closer to Antarctica).