Nelson & Collingwood

The next day, the reality of the robbery came back to E-J and she immediately became incredibly moody and angry, which wasn't helped by the hangover from the night before. Sam decided that the best thing would be a new start on a new island, so off to the South Island we went.

The boat journey over to the South island took three and a half hours and luckily it was a sunny day with calm water. Sam enjoyed his book inside, while E-J spent the majority of the journey staring out to sea thinking about the robbery, what had been lost and how we could have prevented it. Repeatedly Sam would come out to see if E-J was alright, reminding her that the South was all about a new start, but E-J being typical E-J, could not stop thinking and talking about the robbery, changing from angry to sad and then angry again.

Finally, when we reached the South Island E-J was able to smile as we past the most beautiful scenery on our way into the harbour.

We arrived into Picton and decided the best thing would be for us to travel across to Nelson to try to relax and enjoy the beaches around it, if not the quaint, little town.

The drive there was relatively pleasant, passing numerous vineyards and a vast mountain range covered in conafors. Sadly, as we drove into Nelson the weather started to go bad with the sky turning a moody, overcast grey. E-J thought how much this reflected her mood.

That night we stayed in a campervan site in Nelson as we only had perspex in place of the windows (the repair garage in Wellington hadn't had the glass to fit them). Over the top about security, E-J wanted to be somewhere enclosed, which was rather a shame as there were plenty of desolate camping places around. Without the proper security, we didn't want to lose anything else.

That night the rain poured down heavily and we awoke to pretty miserable weather. We then decided we would go to Collingwood to escape from people for a day or so and take in some of the beautiful beaches of the Golden Bay.

As we drove along, the weather started to brighten up and we talked about how things were going to improve. Just as we were both laughing together, a siren and flashing blue light suddenly appeared behind us and an undercover police cop pulled us over to the side. He told us that he had actually been hoping to get the guy in front, but since we were speeding too, he'd give us the ticket instead. E-J, in her usual calm and assuring state, started crying and going off on one at the policeman about what a terrible time we'd already had and why not give us a fine just to add to our troubles. With the policeman starting to soften to our story, Sam quickly advised E-J to be quiet and get back in the van (before she started to become too dramatic and irritate the policeman). Then as a school boy to a headmaster, in the politest most responsible way possible, Sam answered all his questions as best he could. To our luck the policeman let us off!

Once we were in Collingwood, we were relieved to finally make it there with no fine and finding it to be pretty deserted. Having found a camp site at the end of the town, we spent the rest of the evening in a local pub down the road. This pub was incredibly large, but also incredibly empty too.

By the early hours of the next morning, the bad weather seemed to have followed us there, so with no chance of enjoying a gentle stroll on the beach, we resorted to returning to Nelson and possibly heading onto Kaikoura from there.

On the way back, we decided to enjoy some more of the scenic views and decided to make our way down a gravel track to a cave, which is suppose to be the biggest cave in New Zealand. Having travelled down it for a good ten minutes, we started to worry about just how far we had to go to get there. With the gravel road narrowing and an almighty, steep edge of a cliff on one side, we decided that luck hadn't really be on our side lately, so perhaps we ought to turn back. This was also influenced by the sight of the remains of an old campervan, which had previously taken a tumble off the edge. Sam skillfully manoeuvred the van round and we made our way back, passing the occasional car, which added more tension to the trip as we found ourselves practically hanging off the edge while passing them. Once off the uneventful track, we both made a packed not to do anything as stupid as that again!

After a brief stop in Nelson, we continued our travels down the East Coast to the town of Kaikoura in the hope of booking a tour to see some Whales.

Sam's Comments: Glad my charm saved me from a speeding ticket. Good to know I have still got it!!

E-J's Comments: These last few days have been very difficult for me, as I am trying to enjoy New Zealand, but there is a part of me that can't let go of what happened in Wellington. I just hope that the next part of our journey has more good excitement.