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Day 6 - Sunday 24th of February – Rainy day in Picton

Deluge! Tropical sheet-rain storm and howling wind. We were supposed to be going on a water taxi trip and cruise to Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary and for a walk along part of the Queen Charlotte track, but the weather was so bad that Gabi suggested going to a vineyard for lunch instead. To be honest Jeff and I decided against the vineyard because we've be drenched as soon as we walked out the door. Our waterproof jackets were not that waterproof. I can't think of any time when I would deliberately go out for a drive in this weather. It was supposed to ease later in the day. There is the challenge of getting your clothes dry for the next day when on a tour. So we did some washing and looked forward to hopefully better weather from then on. The forecast looked good and certainly a bit better from 7pm in the evening. The others came back in a very jolly state(!) having been to two wineries, a brewery and a chocolate factory. In the meantime I really really really just wanted the rain to go away (to Nelson where they were having bad bush fires!!).

Later in the day Gabi took us all off on an hour's walk to Bobs Bay which involved and up and down walk in the hillside ascending and descending quite steeply back to the bay. The waterside path was blocked by high tide. Anyway it started raining and gusting wind again on the way back so we made our way swiftly back to the Gateway Motel where we were staying. We were meeting for breakfast at 7am in 'The Barn' cafe the next morning. We were leaving for Nelson at 8am. Touring isn't exactly relaxing. It's based on getting to the right place at the right time. But it is the only way to do it and to gain an interesting insight into New Zealand.

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