Road trip!!!

Road trip!!! It says it all. Mike and I hired a car and drove. Stayed in Nelson for the first night and woke up to yet another gloriest day. Mike's first time driving in N.Z and also on the left. Very scary. Made it to the centre of New Zealand, and what a georgous view of Nelson. We drove up around Queen Charlotte Sound to Picton, the ferry was in and getting loaded. We decided to keep moving and we hit a rainy Kaikoura(where we thought we would spend the night). WRONG... No accomodation. So we got some dinner, hit the road and after following Mike's instructions we ended up a dead end road. At the end of this road was a seal colony which he said he knew was there. Yeah Right!!! So after a laugh and some photos we hit the road thinking we would stop at the nearest motel. After driving all the way to CHRISTCHURCH we found one. The next day was another beautiful day, Mike got a brouchre on some cheap golf only $80 a game, Yeah Right!!! So back driving, off to Hamner Springs. A nice queit little Hot Springs Town. NOT! It was like Whangamata in the summertime and there was a half hour wait to get into the pools. So we went and played mini golf and went thru a maze. We stopped at Maruia, Hot Springs. This was perfect, queit, little and just georgous. After bathing for a couple of hours we drove to Reefton and stayed in a Pioneer House B&B. The next day we visited The Monteiths Brewery in Greymouth and then went to the Pancake Rocks on the way back up the coast. We stopped at the longest swing bridge in New Zealand and Mike managed to get a free flying fox ride back across the river. I only made it half way across then turned back. Ha ha ha ha I guess some things will never change. We had a great weekend. The South Island is great.