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My excursion South began with a 12 hour journey to Picton, across the Cook Straight, arriving throught Malborough Sounds and into Picton as the sun went down behind the mountains in a beautiful sky.
From Picton to Kaikoura in my reliable Nissan Sunny hire car, and a somewhat bruise-induced (due to falling off a wall) coastal walk, saw some seals sleeping in the sun along the rocky shore, and also a good amount of sea-birds to spot.
Hanmer Springs next day, and into Hanmer Forest on hired mountain bikes to ride some trails, good fun, and also a couple of challenges, confirming me my personal ability level (not quite up to dropping off small rock faces at the top of mountains yet!). Some pushing up hills did prevail, but a retreat to the villages thermal pools later, and a good soak in some 41 degrees C of sulphur did the trick!
Next to Christchurch for an afternoon of taking in the 'wannabe' London/Cambridge, with arts, street theatre, punting on the river, and plenty of souvenir shopping opportunities.
Today a 5 hour drive has bought me to Dunedin, stopping at Moeraki on the way to explore the boulders, large spherical rocks, sitting like large round eggs, dotted along the sand.
Dunedin is home to the New Zealand Cadbury World, and the Speights Brewery, but purely a stop for me before heading to Te Anau tomorrow to experience the peaceful Sounds...
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