Day drive from Blenheim to Nelson, New Zealand.

We started our third day in Blenheim by walking across the street to Vines restaurant. Little did we know that there was an outstanding breakfast restaurant across the rural highway outside our hotel.









I had a flat white and a “biker breakfast” (cyclists I think, versus motorcycles) which was poached eggs on beetroot, avocado, feta and spicy tomato sauce. It was excellent and I was sad that we hadn’t had a few more breakfasts here during our stay.







After a brief stop in town at MrsWT73’s favorite Katamandu outdoor equipment store, we headed North on Route 6 towards Havelock.



The plan today was to head up to Nelson for a day trip to see the town. Some photos taken by my passenger MrsWT73 through some beautiful scenery in northern New Zealand…









We passed through town and stopped at the one lane Perlous Bridge where we went for a brief walk. We encountered some of the most clear streams / rivers that I have seen. Clear and crystal cold.









We followed the trail and wandered further into the park and down the river bed. It was a very scenic break from driving and as you can see, the weather fully co-operated on our trip.







We headed back from the park and took a closer look at the one lane bridge; eventually crossing it on foot. There wasn’t much to see on the other side, but we crossed it for the record books anyway.







We hopped back in the car and headed westward on Route 6 towards Nelson. There were some twisty turns on our route but we made it to the end. It sounds silly but one the main reasons for heading to Nelson, aside from a wine tour break, was to accommodate a visit to a New Zealand Starbucks to collect a travel mug for MrsWT73’s shelf. We successfully found a very derelict looking starbucks and had a very odd tasting filtered coffee (with power grounds all over the cup- should have had a latte). Nelson itself is a quaint town right on the coast

We then went to the Cantebury Cathedral which is an imposing structure at one end of downtown. With no set plans for lunch, we decided to have some snacks on the Mac’s patio since it was in full sun. It was pretty much a self serve deal here, wait staff existed but you pretty much go inside to order otherwise we’d be waiting forever.











Mac’s had decent pub food… Calamari for me, flatbread for MrsWT73 and a craft beer while the winter sun dipped through the buildings.





After our feed, we left the downtown area and headed over to the beautiful Tahanamui Beach. The beach had some very fine sand and was full of families out for the day. It was the type of beach that kids could run around on forever since it was so wide and spacious.









From Tahanamui Beach, it was back in the RAV4 and back the way we came driving up the coast and eventually inland to Havelock.





Back in the car and headed back the way we came, bound for Picton. We took the reverse route and by the time we hit Havelock, we turned Eastward on the Queen Charlotte Way. We stopped at the Cullen Point Nature Reserve for a brief sightseeing walk. It was only a walk as it only took about 10 minutes. We were able to get some winter sunset views from the view point over the mussel harvesting area that occurs in the bay.









We continued Eastward on Queen Charlottes Way from Havelock towards Picton. I should have perhaps taken it as a sign when Google Directions directed traffic around this stretch of road on a longer route.



I can’t imagine the Queen ever taking this route. It was super twisty and even as the driver I was almost sick by the time we got to the end of it. We did manage to find some wild or free roaming turkeys that were watching the river on our route, something which I had not seen before.









We eventually arrived to Picton. Picton is mostly known for being the ferry terminal where travelers can take the car ferry to the North Island. I previously took the three hour ferry ride in 1998. We weren’t taking the ferry today, but instead seeking dinner. It has a scenic view for a ferry dock as the boats crawl outwards toward the ocean surrounded by mountains and fjords on either sides.







We headed into the town which was deserted after the last ferry had left and had dinner at Café Cortado. It was a pleasant local place. We were feeling light for dinner so we had split pizza half vegetarian and half spicy. It was served nice and thin crust. The restaurant was surprisingly packed for a town with less than 3,000 population.







After dinner, we gassed up the car (at about almost $2 per litre!) and drove back to Blenheim for the night for packing and getting ready to depart on the first flight leaving tomorrow morning. The drive today was a beautiful scenic drive to a part of the world we wouldn’t have otherwise visited.

Another brief but otherwise fabulous visit to New Zealand complete!