When we arrived in Picton, we picked up another car, but alas this was a crappy Mitsubishi Lancer, and we didn't realize until later that all the buttons and lever and instructions in the manual were in Japanese. Which neither of us can read. We figured it out eventually, but if anything had happened and we'd need to add oil, we'd have been hosed. I had this conversation with the guy at National when we returned and it had pleasant ending, but still...We missed our sporty green Corolla.

We had arrived in Picton at 10 am, and set off on the drive south to end up in Kaikoura. In the Blenheim area, about an hour and a half south of Picton, we went looking for wineries. We had a tasting at Hunter's and I liked their 2000 Chardonnay. The 1999 Sauvignon Blanc and their Estate Red of the same year were excellent.

They also had an artist's studio there, with the artist in residence, so we talked to him for a bit and looked at his paintings. We thought we would eat there as well, but decided to keep going down the road. We were looking for Gillan Estates to take a picture for Hadley and Angus (who have a son named Gillan) but it seems to have morphed into a winery called "Grosvenor Estate.

First we did a wine tasting since it was *just* noon and he kitchen didn't seem to be quite ready yet. They provide "cellar door" service for a couple of other wineries and their reserve lines, so we got to taste a selection of very different chardonnays or pinot noirs right next to each other. It's sometimes hard to really compare wineries like that.

Favorites here turned out to be from Mt. Riley's "Seventeen Valley" wines, their reserve line. Spy Valley, despite the cool name, wasn't as good. Josh was tempted by the "cigar-like" Seventeen Valley pinot noir, but in the end didn't want to tote the bottles.

We ate lunch on the veranda in the sun and it was really a wonderful meal. We split pate and fruit and a roasted garlic pizza to start, then had green mussels in broth and a spicy Thai beef salad with glasses of chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. Josh gave a Rachel a call, which was nice. It was one of the nicest moment of the trip, to be sitting under a shady umbrella drinking a nice wine, after a gourmet lunch on a Friday in New Zealand, with Rachel on the cell. Sometimes technology is just grand.

After lunch we dragged ourselves away from Grosvenor Estate and kept south to Kaikoura. I had a nap in the car and felt better -- plus we stopped in Flaxbourne for a home made meat pie, but were too full to eat it. The drive south is mostly along the seacoast, and it's very dramatic, with the land falling as cliffs into the sea, and the road winding along the base of the cliffs -- no guard rails, as usual...We took some hilarious video footage.

We arrived in Kaikoura at 4pm to our lovely hotel, and found that we were somehow not booked there! Despite having a voucher and having paid for it in advance. we called Alison, who was pretty pissed but said it sometimes happens, and she'd make sure we got our money back. The hotel was apologetic and found us a room at Donegal's Irish Pub and B&B, as the town was pretty much booked solid.

It was a disappointment, as the hotel looked very nice and was right by the ocean, and here we were at a pub with thin walls on a Friday night! But oh well. They were very friendly, and they had a lovely garden to walk in. we had a brief nap and then went into town to have a look round.

The beach was rocky and the currents seemed strong, and I am not so foolish as to swim on an unfamiliar beach without a lifeguard, so we walked and looked at the mountains and the bay and the rocks. We gave the Telfers a call about arriving in Akaroa the next day, and then found a great seafood takeaway place for dinner called Continental Seafood (Now Under New Management!).

One note: All the whale-watching tours were booked solid, so that was a no-go, either that evening or the next morning.

This morning we had a fantastic breakfast at Donegal's, including what Josh called "the best coffee in this country so far." After breakfast we went into town to visit the Paua Shell Center, which we'd spotted last night. We loaded up on gifts for family and friends, checked out a nice bakery for a great flat white and a muffin, and set off south for Akaroa.

The road was coastal again for much of the way, so we got to enjoy more of the Kaikouras and the ocean before turning inland as we reached the Canterbury flats. The weather was cloudy, so we didn't have that great view across the flats to the mountains that I remembered. Oh well.