Crossing over to the South Island

From Wellington, a three-hour ferry ride gets you to Picton, a wee little town at the north-east tip of the South Island. Finally the South Island - and boy, what an introduction!

Leaving behind a very windy, wet and grey Wellington, I dozed off on the ferry, only to wake up to the most glorious sunshine.

And this view unfolding around us. For miles and miles. Deeper and deeper into the Malborough Sounds. Turquoise water and golden green hills creating the most beautifully irregular and unexpected coastline. As intricate, delicate and beautiful as lace.

The air so pure, the colours so vivid, everything so perfectly untouched.

Simply breathtaking*.

The weather is typically extremely temperamental in New Zealand, and during the quick drive from Picton to Nelson, clouds rolled in and all of a sudden it was pissing down with rain. So I took another nap and woke up in a rather overcast Nelson, headed to my hostel and started planing how to tackle Abel Tasman.

*I apologise in advance for the outrageous number of times I will use that word from now onwards. Sometimes there's just no other way to put it.