Welly to Ruby Bay - 3rd Feb

We arrived at the ferry port at 7.10am for the ferry at 8.25am. Our bodies were in shock from the early start. Before we knew it we driving on to the ferry – the biggest ferry in New Zealand no less – and heading for lounge of the boat. The ferry journey took about 3 hours and the last part of the journey is through Marlborough sounds – a beautiful narrow water way through rising mountains and scenic bays. It was stunning even though the weather wasn’t that great. Gav enjoyed the view taking lots of snaps, while Amanda slept off a cold in the lounge!

We arrived at Picton at 11.25am and headed west for Nelson. We took a scenic route round some of the beautiful bays. We joined the main highway at Havelock and leaded for Nelson. When we arrived in Nelson there was a lot of entertainment and a good buzz in the atmosphere so we parked up to stretch our legs. It was a street performance festival and although we had missed most of it, we managed to catch one of the shows. We had a quick look around the town and some of the boutique shops. There were lots of things that we could have happily bought but we didn’t have the budget or the space for them. The next town was Richmond where we decided to get some food shopping for the van. Amanda was disappointed that there was no Richmond Sausages in Richmond!

From here we headed north for the Abel Tasman National Park and decided to find a campsite. We followed some signs to a site in Ruby Bay which was right on the coast. It was a really laid back area and had good facilities. When we checked in the nice lady on reception informed us that the site was ‘clothes optional’! Amanda thought she was joking as she said it with a really straight face. She told us that there was no ‘Brad Pitts’ and it was mostly the older campers that liked the ‘freedom’. You were not allowed to walk around the site in all your glory, but you could be ‘free’ at your site or in the swimming pool area.... interesting!! We kept our clothes on and ourselves to ourselves. It wasn’t until the next way when the sun came out that we saw flesh that is not intended to be seen!