Today we made our way to Picton in preparation for waving off Si's mum and Ian to the North Island. As we drove towards the water side we were blown away by the beautiful view of the Queen Charlotte Sound. We had booked a Dolphin Explorer boat trip for later and we couldn't wait to get out on the water. We passed our time with a wander around the shops and a quick swizz at the ninth oldest boat, The Edwin Fox, which carried convicts to Australia and immigrants to New Zealand back in the day. Helen and Ian took to the skies in a seaplane to see the Sound in style and came back so enthused about its beauty that we were even more excited about our boat trip. And it didn't disappoint. The views of the hills and mountains surrounding the Sound were breath-takingly beautiful and even though I haven't seen the films I know they are reminiscent of much of the back drop of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, especially when the mist discends. We were not long out on the water before we were joined by a massive pod of bottlenose dolphins. Despite being almost twice their size these guys were not going to be out done by their acrobatic cousins, the dusky dolphins. They announced their appending arrival with spectacular dives and flips and then continued to entertain us and test our photographic skills by taking it in turns to surf alongside our boat. The rest of our boat trip, although pleasant enough, was quite tame in comparison. We disembarked briefly on Motuara Island to see some birds, including some Little Blue Penguins and then again at Ship Cove, a favourite bay of Captain Cook who spent considerable time here during his three trips to New Zealand.
Back on dry land we treated ourselves to a last supper at The Flying Haggis, a Scottish pub that served surprisingly good Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, as well as a tasty Irn Bru (at one stage it looked as though we might not be able to drag Cat away!)
After all that excitement we were expecting to just settle down for the night at a campsite. But Smith's farm was no ordinary, run of the mill campsite! We were greeted with warm, freshly baked muffins for a start! And then despite it being almost bedtime, Chris the owner took us out on a guided walk up into the hills, past sheep and some shy calves, across streams to see glowworms. Not a bad start to the week.