Picton to Christchurch

The ferry arrived in Picton – the tip of the South Island at 9 pm, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled.  We stayed at a backpacker’s lodge and took off in the morning.  The South Island looks less green, but still has pastures of cows, sheep and even deer.

One of our stops was Kaikoura where we wanted to see seals.  We stopped at one point where we could pull off and saw a man climbing on the rocks.  It turned out that he was with the Department of Conservation and was looking for a seal wrapped in fishing net.  He asked us to help him look for the seal and when we spotted it, he put Tim to work to try and help corner the seal.  The seal evaded capture and slipped into the sea.

The man then invited us to go to a nearby waterfall where the seal pups navigate the river and go play in the falls.  Each year the new pups find this waterfall.  We had a delightful time watching the pups play.
From there we traveled further south.  The views are amazing. We stopped in one small town and bought buns filled with cream.  A yummy treat to enjoy as we walked along the boardwalk.

Then on to Christchurch.  We drove through downtown where so much damage was done a few years ago by two earthquakes.  There is much construction going on.

Today we travel on to Dunedin.

 

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