#NewZealand17 Picton to Westport - Roadtrip Day 1

I had believed I was overcoming my jetlag, until I woke up at 3am on 25th February.

I lay still and quiet in my bed until 7.15, then got up, showered, dressed, woke Blake and headed down to breakfast.

This hostel was even better than the night before, they seemed to be gradually improving day-on-day. Tombstone Backpackers was situated on a hill by Picton cemetery, overlooking the town which was about 30% ferry port. There was a free hot tub, gym equipment and table-tennis and snooker tables. We even had free towel hire so I didn't have to get my own towel wet and put it back in my backpack after my surprisingly decent shower.

Best of all though was the free breakfast of toast and freshly baked hot cheese scones, which were absolutely flawless. Blake and I ate ours out on the terrace. For the fourth day in a row I reflected that life could not be better than it was at this precise moment.

We borrowed the hostel's free bikes to collect our Toyota Allion from down by the port. The lady who ran the rental place was a character. Like many Kiwis, she came across a bit rude, but I realised that this was just the New Zealand sense of humour, and she meant no offense by it. I quite liked her, and she shared her conspiracy theory with us that everyone in Picton was sick because of the chemicals sprayed on the vast quantities of wood that were exported in the port. She specifically warned against the tap water, which I had already drank, so that was cheery.

 The car was an automatic, which made me uneasy at first, but I quickly adapted to (with a little guidance from Blake) as I drove back to collect our bags. At 10am, with Blake driving, me in the back, and Max riding shotgun, we departed Picton for Abel Tasman national park. Within minutes we stopped to take in the awesome view of Picton and the bay, and this would be a regular occurrence in this journey!

As the person who not only had the big camera, but also the only smartphone which took decent photos, I was designated photographer. We pulled over in a number of places, for photos such as these:

And after a few hours crosses a river which the car hire lady had described to us, which apparently featured in The Hobbit movie. It was extremely beautiful, so we pulled over to take a walk along it, and then we saw people swimming in it, and on impulse changed into our swim gear, grabbed our towels from the car, and jumped in!

After our refreshing swim we spotted a couple of hitchhikers and stopped to pick them up, but sadly we didn't have enough room , so they got in another car which had also pulled over.

We continued on for many miles of stunning scenery until eventually we arrived at Nelson. We bought lunch at a supermarket and ate it in the carpark. I looked at the map and decided we didn't have enough time to visit Abel Tasman national park. One for next time! We continued to Richmond where we stocked up on dinners at the Pack'n'Save (a bit like Costco) and I took over from Blake to drive us South-west on route 6 towards Westport.

It was evening by the time we arrived at Westport. The sun was setting over the pink flamingos in the garden as we cracked open the beer and cider we had bought at Pack'n'Save, beginning what was to be a heavy night of drinking.