Our final morning in NZ was wonderful as we got to see more of the beauty around Queenstown.
We arrived in Queenstown early afternoon and our first sighting of the town did not impress.
We had driven from Christchurch to Mt Cook in weather which went from bright and clear, to mist and ending with torrential rain.
We left Christchurch for Mt Cook (also known as Aoraki) in beautiful weather with no idea of what the next 24 hrs would bring.
Our day in Christchurch left us with bitter-sweet memories.
We arrived at our accommodations in Christchurch soon after lunch and found it to be beautiful.
Unfortunately we had only 1 night in Kaikoura as there was so much more to see.
As we drove south from Blenheim we passed large green vineyards reminding us that we were in the heart of NZ’s winelands.
We stopped in the small town of Blenheim for our first 2 nights on the South Island of New Zealand. After a short drive from Picton we arrived at Blenheim but it took an inordinately long time to get to our hotel.
After the very wet day in Wellington, the weather cleared beautifully for our crossing of the Marlborough Sounds from the North Island to the South Island.