And with the big tradition of Boxing Day, we went to the 'Sales' in Nelson. Nelson is a great place, if we weren't living where we are, we would definitely be up here. Although it is wetter, it is warmer, there are lots of beaches, lots of accessible shops, I could grow so many more plants, I could go on and on but there is something about Central Otago that gets to you and we miss it when we are away and Queenstown is one of the most beautiful spots in the world.
So, the Sales. I bought a few T-shirts but Derek couldn't find the jacket he wanted so we went to Spotlight instead so that I could buy lots of material!! I bought lots! It will keep me going for a fair while.
After an hour we headed back 'north' and stopped at Rabbit Island. This place has a special 'feel' to me. It is a big reserve that no-one lives on except the caretakers and the beach seems to stretch for miles, 13 kilometres to be exact and is the largest picnic area in the district. It was pretty busy there today as people were on Xmas break but there is plenty of beach, woods and cycle tracks to go around.
The rain just got worse and worse so we just headed on down to Gore Bay, our stop for the night. We stayed here ....
There are fifteen open air pools that start at 32 degrees up to 42 degrees, that one was a very smelly sulphur one but hey, it is supposed to be good for you. There are also pools for children, three huge slides that you need inflatable tyres for and a proper swimming pool too which we only found at the end of our stay as it is all nicely landscaped with trees etc so you can't see it all at once.
And you can guess, it was still raining though not so hard this time. We got to Burkes Pass our next designated stop, around 6 ish as it is a fair drive down passed Christchurch, Ashburton, Geraldine etc, about four hours, down to the mountains again. When we got there our lovely host, Julie Greig who is an artist and has been there about three months, told us that our cabin had blown all it's power over xmas and they couldn't get anyone out to fix it so did we want to spend the night in their house. Although they were lovely and the people who are wood turners from the opposite side of the road (indeed the two families are the population of Burkes Pass I think!!) were having a little party, we were reluctant to join them so decided to drive home (over eight hours in one day but hey).
It wasn't far to Tekapo from there and the lupins in the fields before you get to the township were just phenomenal. I thought we got lots round here but there were fields of them, literally and so beautiful in the evening light. These photos don't do them justice, they were taken with my phone.
But what a holiday, we both loved it even though we had driven over 2,000 kms.
What a beautiful country this is, so full of contrasts from one side to the other, from the bottom to the top and back again. Maybe we ought to do it in a camper van next time, maybe not. Well done car too.
So thank you so much for taking this journey with us, I hope you liked it too.
We will drag you along next time too if that is OK with you.
TTFN, take care and love each other in this brand new year that is now 2014.
xxx