We woke up in Kaikoura and made a hearty breakfast in the hostel kitchen. We weren’t sure if we would stay and do something here or move on. We grabbed some coffee and headed to the lookout over the city to decide.

Since we drove in to the city well after dark, we didn’t realize how scenic it was. Kaikoura is famous for whale watching tours but they were rather expensive. When we found out a local winery was closed, this sealed our decision to continue driving north. We picked up some local crayfish (lobster) and green mussels and made our way to Marlborough County – wine country!

As we drove into Marlborough, vineyards and wineries began appearing everywhere. This region is most famous for it’s Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir varieties of wine.

We decided to drive around the area of Blenheim and randomly came across this appealing looking wine room – Lawson’s Dry Hills.

Once inside we were the only ones besides a very helpful employee pouring as much wine as you would like to taste and then answering any questions.

The tasting is all free but it’s usually polite to buy at the least a bottle of your favorite.

We continued driving around until we found a place called Vines Village which is a collection of craft stores, coffee and dessert shop and a cellar door for the winery Eradus. A cellar door is a tasting outlet to sample and buy a winery’s wines separate from where they actually grow the grapes (vineyard).

Out back of the complex there was a rugby field where we practiced our kicks and throws.

We enjoyed a little dessert and coffee before trying out some of the wines of Eradus.

We bought another bottle and realized we had a nice collection going in our Jucy Van.

We stopped in the tourist info building in town and decided to book our ferry tickets there. Since New Zealand is two major islands (south and north), you have to take a vehicle ferry across the Cook Strait (named after the famous British explorer Captain Cook). The ferry departs the south island from the town of Picton. Since this was only 15 km away (9 miles) we decided to drive there and stay the night.

We found the Picton Top 10 campa park. Top 10 has very well organized campa parks all over NZ and this one was no exception.

Every town in NZ has a monument to commemorate those who perished in World War I (aka The Great War before WWII came along). Here is Picton’s Great War Memorial.

After walking around the port area a little, we headed back to the Top 10 to grill up a wonderful seafood dinner – our lobster and mussels from Kaikoura with some local Sauvignon Blanc from our winery visits.

With all that delicious seafood, it was natural that we made a new friend – a very well-fed cat.

While Top 10 has campa parks all over NZ, some are a little different than others. This Top 10 in Picton had a wonderful hot tub that you could rent out for $10 for 1 hour. It was very relaxing and great way to relax before tucking in our campa van for the night.