Today was a busy travel day. We enjoyed our little seaside house in Nelson until about 10 am. Then we packed up and drove about two hours north and east to Picton.

In Picton we took the ferry across the Cook Strait to Wellington on the North Island. The ferry ride took about four hours.

In Nelson, last night, it was very very windy. We were a bit worried that the ferry might be cancelled. But Picton seemed to be sheltered from the wind. Our ferry ride was quite smooth

Once we got to Wellington we had to drive another hour and a half to where we staying tonight. By the time we got here it was dark and finding our accommodation was very challenging. But we finally made it and are enjoying another great cozy room.

This morning we left the west coast of The South Island and drove north. Then we turned northeast and drove through Buller Gorge to Nelson.

After we got through the mountains the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Duke has done a fantastic job of picking accommodations for this trip. Where we are tonight is exceptional. We are in Nelson at the end of a peninsula with water all around us. The little house we are staying in is idyllic. This afternoon we sat in the upstairs lounge and read and relaxed as the tide came in around us. We were snug inside our tiny house as the wind whipped up the waves.

For dinner we got fish and chips from a nearby take out. They were fantastic.

It rained most of this morning, so we hunkered down in our cozy cabin and read. According to Google, the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island gets 2 meters of rain a year!

Around noon the skies started to clear. We drove down to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes visitor center in Paparoa National Park. We did the loop hike out to the coast.

After our hike we had pizza at the cafe.

This morning after we left Ross Beach Top10 Holiday Park we went back to the Ross Historic Goldfields Museum. We noticed yesterday that they had a book swap. So today we brought the two paperback books we have finished and swapped them for new books to read.

Then we hiked the 1.5 mile Ross Water Race Walkway. It was a beautiful hike and we got to see ruins of the gold mining infrastructure.

From Ross we headed north along the coast. Tonight we are at a beautiful forest retreat just outside of Punakaiki National Park where we will explore tomorrow.

This morning we woke up to overcast skies threatening rain. We drove into Hokitika for breakfast. Hokitika is about twenty miles north of Ross where we are staying. It’s the nearest town that has restaurants. This area was a big gold rush and gold mining area.

On our way back from breakfast we stopped at a couple of gold mining historical sites.

This afternoon we went for another long walk on the beach. This time we headed south.

For dinner we had New Zealand cheese, salmon and wine. We ate it at the table in our room. It was yummy!