South Island Day 10

We had arrived at our last full day on the South Island. We had really been looking forward to spending time on an Abel Tasman beach and thankfully the sun was out! It was a bit windy and the beach we chose was pretty crowded, but we still really enjoyed our day in the sun. The water was a beautiful turquoise and the sand was orangish and like cornmeal/polenta. The water was really cold! But we still loved playing in the sand making castles, mermaid tails, and burying bodies.

On our way back to Nelson, we stopped at an ice cream stand for real fruit ice cream…it was gooood and a great treat after a day in the sun! We cleaned up at the apartment and went to a great Spanish restaurant. 

It was a fun day and we were sad to see how vacation come to an end!

We got up bright & early the next day to make the trek back to Picton to catch our ferry back to the North Island. It was a windy day and the captain of the boat warned of extra choppy water. Since I'm prone to motion sickness, I made sure to take my medicine and stayed up on the top the entire time so I could have fresh air and watch the waves. We got a prime spot but the kids wanted to stay inside so I was left alone on top the entire time. I was sliding around all over because the waves were so wild! Cody was downstairs with the kids watching a movie but the waves were too rough and he had to quickly escape for fresh air. We made it safely back to Wellington and grabbed fish & chips for dinner and enjoyed being back at Mike & Lois' place for the night before we made our last day journey back home.

We had such an amazing trip! We got to see some gorgeous places and explore most of the South Island. We drove and drove and drove! Black licorice was a staple of our trip and we will always think of the South Island when we eat some =) Mike & Lois were so extremely patient with our kids and the tight quarters in our van and in our different accommodations. We made some great memories and we are so grateful we were able to do this with them! 

South Island Day 9

We were now on our last leg of the trip! We had all been looking forward to Nelson because we had heard such great things about it. Nelson is one of the driest places in New Zealand and we were definitely looking forward to a few sunny days =) We took a beautiful drive to Nelson and arrived as the rain cleared up. We arrived at our little apartment that we would be staying at for the next 2 days. We unloaded, freshened up, got some wiggles out by wrestling, and headed out to explore the city.

We toured the pretty Queens Garden and enjoyed the colorful flowers and diverse trees from throughout the world. The kids especially loved the cute little baby ducks floating around in the pond. We walked down the quaint and charming downtown. The stores were cute and colorful and the streets were lined with green trees. Right in the middle of downtown is Church Hill. It is a beautiful Anglican stone church towering over the city. We loved walking around its grounds, browsing through the chapel, and taking cool jumping pictures. We filled our bellies with a delicious Thai dinner. It was yum! 

We headed back to our place before dark for once and enjoyed Magnum bars for dessert and some games of Monopoly Deal with everyone. It was a nice relaxing day!