Moving Past Marlborough

The next place I wanted to go in New Zealand was the Marlborough wine region. But, after the self-harm I inflicted on my esophagus in Napier, I decided to give it a pass. You realize how much I had to be hurting to skip wine-tasting in Marlborough . . . . And so, I headed to Mount Cook. Because I needed to go by two different buses, and the bus times did not coordinate, it took me two days to get there. The first day I traveled from Picton to Christchurch. That 3-4 hour drive has to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It takes you through tropical jungle, wine country, along a dramatic cold water coast (where I saw loads of baby seals), and through rolling hills of golden sheep pastures. And the weather seemed to change almost as much as the scenery.