Continuing the tour of the South Island

We arrived in Picton in the early afternoon still basking in the glow of our fine dining experience at the winery. After a quick stop in town to choose our lodging for the night, we set out on the Snout Tramp. We walked out onto the tip of a peninsula surrounded by the Queen Charlotte Sound all around.
The next day we woke up bright and early. Well, early for us, about 7am because we had a long drive ahead of us, with plenty of sights on the way. Much to our chagrin, it was raining. And not just raining, it was a serious downpour. We hopped in the car and started the drive, and worked to imagine the beautiful scenery passing us by, completely obscured by the clouds and fog. We stopped in Nelson for lunch, and since it was still raining, Noah got to do a beer tasting at Founders Brewery. Judging from the fact that he finished three glasses before I got the camera out, it was a success.But, our luck was turning around, and as we walked out of the brewery the sun came out. Maybe Nelson does have sun for 200+ days a year after all. We quickly jumped in the car and continued the drive to Golden Bay stopping at some scenic lookouts on the way and scaring a few sheep too.Our plans for the next day were to explore Abel Tasman National Park by kayak. When we got to the beach, they were only lending out sit-on-tops for 2 hours due to the wind expected later in the day. As this was supposed to be one of the best places to kayak, it didn't seem like enough, so we went tramping instead, hoping for better weather the next day. As you can see from the pictures below, the Abel Tasman Coast Track was stunning (too bad we only had time to do 1 day of the 4-day track)

The view of Golden Bay going up Gibb's HillStill going up

Spotting the first beach, two hours into the hike

Okay, I guess they were right about the wind.Walking through the canopy, a light at the end of the tunnel

Beach number 3, so perfect!

Using our three-sticks skills to get back to the car by
jumping across the creeks in the trail.

And the next day, we finally got to sea-kayak! The weather was perfect and the water was calm. Couldn't be better.These two pups really wanted to climb aboard our kayak. I wasn't too sure about this, but they seemed to be. But just as they got their courage, another kayak came by, and a few big waves scared them away.