I headed south in my mighty Mazda which I discover is only doing 30 miles to the gallon instead of 60. The previous owner called it the Popemobile as it was only used for driving his wife to church. But it got me to PK's an old friend from Bangor. He now has a house and 13 acres and many toys - a gyrocopter, a hovercraft (broken after a crash), a quad, an 8 metre sailing catamaran and a 9 metre fast motor boat. We choose the motor boat and head off onto Lake Taupo with his girlfriend and Anna, a miscellaneous
American. We carefully leave the curry on the cooker so that it is thoroughly burnt by the time we get back. Next morning we heard the cattle ready for the TB inspector. A varied life out here.

Next day I have a lovely lunch in Palmerston North with Eleanor, a former girlfriend not seen or heard of for 35 years. A beauitful city and great to catch up again. Being chivlarous I paid, of course.

 

Tuesday saw me on the Cook Strait ferry to begin my car circumnavigation of the south island. Cook Strait lived up to its reputation and it blew hard but soon I was ashore in the famous Marlborough wine district whizzing past famous vinyards which up until now had only been labels on bottles. I look forward to my three days here on the way back.

The pace of life on this island is slower and there are very few people compared to the North Island. The scenery is soon changing from wonderful to spectacular...