Day 21

Picton to Marfell's beach 74 km

It rained last night and I thought perhaps my luck with the weather was about to run out, but the day dawned bright and sunny.

I had intended to head west towards Nelson then turn south towards the west coast but somehow got myself on the wrong road and was on my way to the east coast. By the time I realized my error I had climbed about 150 meters out of Picton and decided, in the spirit of a journey with no destination or timetable to continue on down the east coast to ChristChurch.

After climbing through the forest plantations around Picton I droped into the Marlbourough region and Blenhiem where the scenery changed to something more like the northern California wine country. Indeed the area around was primarily vinyards surrounded by brown grass clad hills--very much like N. Cal. There was a farily big climb aout of Blenheim. Not too bad but it was a really hot afternoon and the heat takes it right out of me while cycling.

After dropping down towards the township of Seddon I hit my first really big headwind of the trip so far. Really, really windy and right in my face. I found myself in a very low gear on a flat road getting buffeted about rather vigorously. I stopped in Seddon, a town comprised of a small cafe and 4square (small grocery) and an i-site. The very helpful lady at the i-site gave me directions to a DoC campsite about 17km further on into the blustery headwind. I sat at the cafe for a long while enjoying some excellent fried Gurnard hoping the wind might die down (nope). I then wandered around the 4squre taking my time selecting water and some oatmeal satchets. The wind seemed to get a bit stronger so I set off on a 90 minute trip to cover 17 km. Fortunately the route was downhill with the last half in a crosswind heading east towards the beach.

I finally arrived at yet another lovely, quite little camp site and set about setting my tent near a tree out of the wind. Which was not to bad as there was a towering cliff to the south from where the wind was blowing. At this point Clyve, the onsite manager, came over and suggested my choice of tent site might not be so good. Apparently the wind usually blows from the NE, where I had a fine wide open exposed view of the ocean. If the wind change to that direction during the night I could have well been literally blown away. Grateful for the advice, and encouraged by the thought the wind might change to a more favorable direction, I moved to the spot Clyve suggested and began putting up my tent. About this time several other residents, all of whom live in small campers wandered over to talk with me and Clyve. Everyone was quite happy to tell me about all the good places to camp and fish on the south island, and quit wasting my money on bottled water as the stuff coming out of the faucet in the ground was just fine. Eventually Clyve waved off as he was going to catch some 'crawfish'.

A bit later, after a nice walk on the beach I got out my camp stove and set about boiling some water. As the prepackaged, commercial pasta substance was burbling away in my pot Clyve came over with a freshly caught, freshly boiled 'crawfish'. While anatomically similar to the little river crayfish in the US, this thing was the size and color of one of the largest lobsters I've ever seen. It was without a doubt the best meal I've had in NZ and probably the best shellfish I've ever had. The tail was just like a lobster and the legs (it has no claws) were better than any crab I've had.

Later that evening Clyve, came over in his dripping wetsuit to show me the Paua (abalone) he'd just scoop off the bottom of the ocean. He and his lovely wife Ruth may live in a camper 6 months out of the year, but they wave an amazing view and they eat very well. Not a bad life really.