We arrived just after midnight at the motel in Picton, all a bit groggy as it was well past pyjama o'clock. I did get a bit over-excited partly due to the late hour and partly the horror of standing at the front of the ferry, with a load of lorries half a metre behind revving their engines. What is it with men and their vehicles here?!
So, Picton was a very pretty surprise as after breakfast outside
(Jan's skin didn't seem to have melted in the night) we took in the harbour before climbing the headland.
Wow.
Having told myself that while it was a pity not to be able to sail in during daylight yesterday to see the Sound, we'd had the chance to see lots of the capital. Well, nothing much beats two-wheeled sight seeing of Marlborough Sound. Cycling along Queen Charlotte Drive is the definition of awesome, usually a much overused word in my view. It simply took your breath away how naturally beautiful it is. It made for very slow cycling as I had to stop for photos every 800metres!
Saw the most cyclists yet today, often loaded with panniers. I expect you could count on both hands the number of cyclists seen on the North Island.
Euphoria abounded today and I ran out of superlatives in my head amongst the pine forests.
Today was what I'd dreamed about when I thought of a bike adventure here, and so clearly had Steve.
Simply perfect (apart from the obvious lack of my valentine, who I chatted to anyway). There were a lot more proper mad looking people about today, the first one was skateboarding down a col with a go pro on his helmet. Many big beards about too!
4 climbs today, the last was the biggest. Was fun beating a log laden lorry who couldn't find a small enough gear.
So 70 miles today and as Jan said, this is living the dream.
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