CS

I’m currently sipping a pint of Mac’s passion fruit IPA which I have found a taste for since being in NZ. We’re in The Vic pub in Nelson having driven from Westport earlier today. It’s still the first week of our road trip and there’s already been a lot of driving and walking so far.

Being outside Queenstown is refreshing and we can finally see NZ’s true colours. We know that Queenstown is a bit of a bubble so we refrained from believing that the rest of the country is the same. The first noticeable difference is that most of the places are pretty desolate and can feel like ghost towns at times with not a single person in sight. But I love that. It’s a great change from the busy streets of UK towns and leaves you feeling like you’ve got more of your own space.

The journey to the top of the north island has so far been pretty spectacular, with forests, straight open roads and coastal roads with crashing waves to name but a few. I’m really enjoying taking in the views whilst driving the most amazing roads I’ve ever seen in my life.

I’m content with where we are right now. It’s sunny here in Nelson and this seems like a pretty cool place. Having driven through so much rain that we could hardly see where we were going, we love how quickly the weather can change here (when it turns sunny anyway!!) and one day is hardly recognisable from the next. Fingers crossed for some sun on the rest of our trip. Vicki is going to do another post soon on where we’ve been and what we’ve done so far.

Now to explore Nelson and head further north in the morning. North island here we come.