New Zealand - Kaikoura all the way back to Auckland!

Time to pack the bag again and move on - this time up the East Coast back to Picton (the topmost town in the South Island and where the Interislander ferry goes from).

So left behind the girls, the seals, the whales and the dolphins and hopped on the bus. Usually the general idea is to catch the ferry straight over to Wellington but I decided to spend a few days in Picton to do some tramping (thats hiking or walking to the uninitiated). Had also heard of a great little hostel that I wanted to check out - and I wasn't disappointed, it was lovely - great courtyard, flowers everywhere and the bonus......a hot spa to soak those weary bones after a hard days walking. If I remember correctly it was called the Villa - higly recommended.

Picton itself is a picturesque little place, not a whole lot happening so if you're after a big nightlife scene then its definitely not the place...although I'm sure if you wanted to find some trouble you'd manage somehow!

The tracks around Picton are pretty good too - lots of coastal walks that take you down to secluded little beaches looking out over the Sound and not too tough on the old knees.

The main track around there though is whats known as the Queen Charlotte Track - takes 3/4 days if you do it in its entirity and assuming it doesn't rain you should have fantastic views all around.....I however did not! As I was a little short on time I just did the first day and I can honestly say it didn't stop raining all god damn day - from the time I got on the boat for the 1hr transfer across to the start of the track until I got back to the hostel 7 hrs later. And even though I had my waterproof trousers in my bag I forgot to put them on until it was just too late and there really was no point afterwards. All the same I was quite impressed with myself (even if I do say so myself!), it took me just under 4 hours to do the 18km and most of it was uphill, very rocky and extremely slippy so I was very pleased. The best bit was waiting at the end - a nice cold (eh?) pint to reward me for my efforts and the joy of discussing politics - yep that's what I said - the joy of talking politics with an Israeli girl....something I won't do again - especially when it becomes clear that we were not going to agree on anything ....including agreeing to disagree!

So that was Picton - a great little place to stop off and stretch the legs.

That's basically the end of my trip around NZ - the next day was the ferry back to Wellington and then catching the express bus back to Auckland.

It was time to head to Oz for xmas - more about that later!