Our Last Few Days in the South Island

After Able Tasman we had planned to make our way over to Blenheim and the Marlborough region and a well known wine area in the south island, then to Kaikoura and finally finish off in Picton before our ferry to the north island.

The Marlborough region was amazing! We stayed at a little hostel in Renwick for the night so that we could rent some bikes and go on a wine tour without having to worry about driving. What a great idea that was! We spent about 5 hours on the bikes and made it to 6 wineries and I can tell you that we were not riding in a straight line on our way back to the hostel. All of the wines were awesome, but the region is definitely known for its sauvignon blancs, which were delicious. Dave continues to like chardonnays, but really I just think he likes almost any wine that has been aged in some oak.

A view from the side of the road

 

The next day was one of the most beautiful days we have had weather wise so we decided to visit one more winery on our way out of Blenheim because it has a tower on the property that you can climb and get 360 degree views of the wine region - all the grapes and the mountains and the clear blue skies...it was gorgeous (and the wine tasting there wasn't bad either :)

From Blenheim we made our way down the east coast to Kaikoura. This is what I had been looking forward to most on our New Zealand adventure so I was pretty excited that we were finally making our way there. Dave was also looking forward to this part of the trip, mainly because it was Super Bowl Monday here and we stopped off at a local bar to have a few beers and catch the Seahawks demolish the Broncos. Not the best game but it was well worth the stop. We spent the rest of the day in Kaikoura, checking out the town and checking in for our dolphin swim for the next morning. Then we drove a little north of town and stayed at a free campsite for the night. The sky was so clear and the stars were amazing, but we had to go to bed relatively early because the dolphin swim was booked for 5:30 am the next morning.

Right off the edge of the boat

Totally worth the early morning wake up! We were on the boat heading out to the ocean and the wild pods of dusky dolphins just in

time for sunrise. Right after the sun had completely risen, we saw our first pod of dolphins, and in we went to the water. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in my entire life. There were 16 of us in the ocean swimming around with hundreds of dolphins and they actually interact with you. If you sing under water and swim in circles and dive down it attracts the dolphins to you and they actually come over and take a look. If you get their attention enough, they swim around with you for a little bit until you bore them again. It was so cool! We got so close to so many dolphins! We did 4 dives in total before heading back onto the boat to change and have some hot chocolate. While we were on the boat we got to hang out and watch over 200 dolphins playing around with each other. They were jumping and flipping and twisting. They were swimming with the boat and racing the boat. There were even seals and albatross joining in on the fun. It was such a cool morning! Definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far for me!

The rest of the day we spent napping pretty much, hahaha. We did go to a seal colony just south of Kaikoura and saw a sheep shearing show before saying goodbye to the area and driving back north.

We spent our last day on the south island in Picton. We went to the gym, drove a bit of the Queen Charlotte Scenic Drive, walked around town and enjoyed the sunny weather.

Sadly, our time on the south island had come to an end. We were definitely excited to get to Wellington and the North Island for the rugby 7's tournament, but we didn't want to leave the south island. It was so beautiful and amazing to explore - 5 weeks just wasn't enough time! Oh well, I guess that means that we'll just have to come back... :)

Off to more adventures in the north island!

xoxo