After the beautiful ferry ride to the South Island I stayed in Picton for a few days, which was gorgeous. On one of the days I went down to Blenheim for the Marlborough Wine Festival. Unfortunately it was cloudy and sprinkling all day, but it was fun to be there. There was live music, ok food, and lots of wine to taste. Buses back to Picton ran from 3-7 and I got on one at about 5:30. There were maybe 15 other people on the little bus, 11 of which were from the same family. The matriarch took the bus microphone and did some announcing for the rest of us. This included introducing everyone, so I had to admit that I was traveling alone from California. She thought it was a shame that I was all alone so she informed me that I would be coming back with their family for a beer and lasagna, which normally I might not do but the family was big and they all seemed nice (especially the step-daughter that was talking to me assuring me everything was ok even though her stepmom was a little crazy), so I said ok. They had an amazing property that I had driven by the day before and gawked at, so I was even more excited to spend a little time with them. They had recently bought it and were in the middle of renovations. I didn't get any great photos, but here is one that gives a limited sense of the view:
After Picton I went down to Kaikoura, which has deep pools right off shore that makes it a great place for whales and dolphins to live and hang out. There were also pretty good ocean views:
I camped by the water one night and woke up and saw multiple pods of probably at least 30 dolphins each swimming around, doing flips, showing off. This is the best photo I got of them since I caught one jumping:
This was also Valentine's Day, so I took myself out to breakfast and then stopped at a town down south where I got a facial (felt amazing after camping and hostels for 3 weeks!). And this was my Valentine's Day evening in a nutshell:
A glass of wine, a cup of instant noodles with an added carrot, and a book while camping.
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