[Joanne100]

My self and the family are going camping at the end of Jan and thought we would stay at Picton, just wondered if anyone had any ideas of how to fill our days in that area? anything i shouldnt miss?

[wilson182]

I'll watch this with interest because the only time we went to Picton there did'nt seem to be that much going on. We visited the aquarium but I think that was the only thing we found. We are heading up that way in early March so I'm interested to see if we did miss anything.

(Word of warning - if you get car sick DO NOT go via Queens Charlottes Drive. Its very long and very twisty.

Debs

[Helsandfamily]

We camped in picton quite a few years ago - very lovely!! We did the Queen Charlotte track while we were there, and I thoroughly enjoyed it although I would say that I am not a "walker". My only regret was doing it over 3 days, because day 2 was quite intense and in hindsight, we would have kayaked that bit. The main campsite in Picton was fab. all mod cons, but the campsites (DOC) on the track were very basic, and we were very very smelly when we finished the treck.

If we hadn't been in such a rush, we would have had more time and been able to have dips in the sea and stuff, but I would recommend it!

hels

[Joanne100]

Went to Nelson the year b4 and the car sickness was bad then too so im not expecting anything different. ill have the pak n save bags on hand, thanks for the warning! hey do they have those little holes in the bottom tho! lol

Maybe we wont spend the whole of our hol in Picton, as all i can find is an Aquarium, Winery and dolphin watch but we will be doing the whale watching in Kaikoura on the way up, and there is only so much walking u can do with 3 kids, so maybe we will move on. It looks very pretty tho doesnt it!?
Joanne

[wilson182]

Went to Nelson the year b4 and the car sickness was bad then too so im not expecting anything different. ill have the pak n save bags on hand, thanks for the warning! hey do they have those little holes in the bottom tho! lol

Maybe we wont spend the whole of our hol in Picton, as all i can find is an Aquarium, Winery and dolphin watch but we will be doing the whale watching in Kaikoura on the way up, and there is only so much walking u can do with 3 kids, so maybe we will move on. It looks very pretty tho doesnt it!?
Joanne

:laugh We never begin a car holiday without loading the pak N save bags Joanne!!!!!

Picton was lovely, I really liked the little harbour with the playground - its just very small I think. Sounds like you are doing a similar trip to the one we are thinking of in March, but we will be going across to Welly for a couple of nights then Nelson and Hanmer on the way back.

Debs

[Familyofmonkeys]

If you wanted to venture slightly further afield, Blenheim is only 25 minutes drive away and there are lots of vinyards open in the area for walks, wine tasting, cellar tours with cafe/restaurants. We drove past loads on our summer holiday but unfortunately didn't get time to stop off at any. I have a list of a few if you are interested?

[Familyofmonkeys]

Just found a pdf map on-line that shows location of most of the larger vinyards in the area:

http://www.hunters.co.nz/hunters/jsp/map.pdf

the Matua Marlborough (New Renwick road) is also called the Ponder Estate and does olive growing aswell as vinyard.

Highfield Estate has a tower you can go up to get a good view of the area.

[Joanne100]

Thought id share my camping holiday experience with you all ,well we survived!! and nope there wasnt much to do at Picton, but it was fun.

Our first stop over was in Kaikoura, we spent two nights here the full day we had there i decided it would be fun to go Whale watching so we booked in and were told there was a big swell and people that suffered from motion sickness should be warned, i would be fine i came prepared!!! i had my motion sickness bands on!!! well OMG ive never felt so ill in all my life i managed to see one sperm whale, it lifted its tail and glided back into the depths before the 6 metre swell got the better of me, for 3 hours all i saw was the bottom of my sick bag! Gemma and Connor didnt feel too good either, but Ryan and D saw two more Sperm Whales. It was so lovely to see these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat. Kaikoura is world famous for its Whales and i can see why, only wish i could have enjoyed it more and maybe gone on a calmer day, but it was an amazing experience.

Our next stop off was a Picton, Picton is the gateway to the Marlborough sounds ( the islands that separate the south and north islands. One of the days we booked a ferry (yep me on a boat again!) to Wellington the capital of New Zealand the ferry crossing was 3 hours and an hour of the was just getting through the "sounds" Wellington was like a mini Canary Wharf, a lovely city but im glad we are in chch as its the business capital everyone was rushing around in suits.
we took a ride on the cable car to get some views of Wellington we had a meal and a walk around then it was time to get back on the ferry we didnt have long there but it was a great day in windy wellington yep its true it was windy!
Also at Picton we went in the aquarium and learnt all about giant squid!

From Picton we drove back down the coast back through Kaikoura stopped to look at some seals that were resting on the rocks then went inland to Hanmer Springs, Hanmer is spa town they have the sulphur hot pools that we spent a day at last year but this time we stayed at the campsite down the road.
We had two hours in the hot pools went very wrinkly left for a while then came back for the kids to play in the pools in the evening. Derek and I sat in the cafe and had a hot choc.
We also went on a village cruiser which is a bike that carries 6 people, it was burning hot and the bike had no gears it was hard work but great fun, we also went to a pitch and putt green and we all played an 18 hole course, the course should have been done in 54 but the highest score was 113 wont tell ya whos score it was as she will hit me, opps lol have u seen the movie Happy Gilmore? well that was Connor trying to play golf the ice hockey way it was so funny but he did really well, the course was set in lovely scenery.

9 nights went very quickly, really enjoyed camping once again and came back with a nice tan and all relaxed ready for work and school to start back up.
Wow its nice to be on my own after 7 weeks of kids!

Joanne

[Smiler]

Sounds like you had a great time Joanne :nice1

Don't envy you the Kaikoura boat trip though. It was fairly ahem... calm :uhoh when we went but we'd already been cancelled twice because of the rough weather. :exit

Hope you get to sail again in nice calm seas, it really is worth it. :nice1

[benandclare]

well OMG ive never felt so ill in all my life i managed to see one sperm whale, it lifted its tail and glided back into the depths before the 6 metre swell got the better of me, for 3 hours all i saw was the bottom of my sick bag! Joanne

Yup sounds very very familiar :D :D it's a horrible feeling but like you, saw one whale before going through endless bags :no


Rest of trip sounds fantastic, look forward to hearing all about it over a glass of mineral water soon :nice1

[Joanne100]

look forward to hearing all about it over a glass of mineral water soon :nice1[/QUOTE]

I take it youve heard about my diet! :o
Have i got will power or wot!!! 4 kg gone already :raebanana

[benandclare]

I take it youve heard about my diet! :o
Have i got will power or wot!!! 4 kg gone already :raebanana

Yeh ha way better than my feeble efforts :D :D