January 10, 2024
Today we are in Picton. Picton is a town in the Marlborough of New Zealand’s South Island The town is located near the head of the, Queen Charlotte Sound.
As I went out on deck to watch the sunrise I was disappointed that the thick cloud cover prevented me from viewing it. Then it started pouring rain….not a good sign since I was suppose to go kayaking. By the time we were to leave the rain had eased and we headed out. After a 30 minuted drive up the mountain in driving rain we reached the Queen Charolette Sound and the kayaks came into view. As we got out of the van the rain magically turned into a mist. We geared up and headed out on our paddle.
As we paddled the rain stopped and the sun started to peak out and it turned into a beautiful day. We paddled for over 4 hours on glass like water. There are not a lot of pictures because it hard to take pictures when you are suppose to be paddling…lol!!! One picture is of trees that are referred to as the New Zealand Christmas tree as it blooms red in December. Its flowers are like a bottle brush.
The water near the shore was filled with rays that zoomed under our kayaks.
When we took a break on shore there was a family of ducks that was begging us for crumbs from our biscuits!
4 hours latter we returned to the starting point with arms that felt like overdone noodles!!!
By the time we got back to the ship there was no time to explore the tiny town so we headed up to the deck and uncorked our bottle of wine as we headed out to our next stop Kaikoura.
