Last day on the South Island

 Last day on the South Island.

Here are pictures of a few of the local campsite residents....

...habituated to humans, taken as it walked past me, not a telephoto shot....

....I stopped on a path and it looked at me, hesitated, and then continued to walk along the path....

...this one was a little more shy and turned away...

...a greedy pair of birds who are like magpies and steal bright and shiny object to add to their hoard of treasure...

And this cute fellow was always active, energetically striding across the grass.

We were making our way to Nelson, the sunniest place in New Zealand to Picton to catch the ferry back to the North Island. and stopped here foe a coffee and pee break.

This is the Pelorus Bridge, yet another single lane bridge over a raging river.

The swirling mass of water made muddy by 12 hours of heavy overnight rain. 

A standing wave on the swollen river. Some Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fans might recognise the name of the river as it features in the second film where the dwarfs descend the river in barrels.

Then we arrived in Marlborough country, famed for its fabulous wines, especially Sauvignon Blanc although the Forrest Winery produces 15 types of wine.

A selection of their classics, some of which are available in some Sainsbury's.

Part owner Dr Forrest on the right who held our tasting.

And then it was off to Picton to take the ferry to the North Island, passing this area of rescued and restored wet land for the benefit of the nation courtesy of the Hunting and Fishing fraternity.

And out last stop in Picton to watch our (delayed) ferry arrive to unload and take us back to Wellington on the North Island.