It always rains in...

...New Zealand. I swear I'll never complain about the weather at home again. It's rained every day since we arrived. And when it rains, it pours. After Bryce's place we went to Rotarua and camped just outside the town. It rained for most of the night but in the morning there was a thunderstorm and it rained even more. Unbeknowingly, we had pitched the tent in a very shallow dip which filled with water and in turn flooded out tent. The water actually came over the 'bath tub bottom'. We managed to get everything out and into the car. We were just grateful it didn't happen whilst we were asleep. Whilst in Rotarua we white water rafted on the Kaituna River. It contains the highest waterfall that is commercially rafted (7m). It was fun and the boat managed to stay upright all the way down. We also went to Wai-o-tapu, a geothermal wonderland. It rained. We sat it out in the cafe for a while hoping it would pass. The sunshine showed itself briefly and being optimistic we headed off on the 75 minute walk around the park. It didn't last but even a very wet wonderland was worth seeing. If very smelly. Then we did the long slog south to Wellington (late saturday afternoon) to catch the ferry to Picton on sunday morning. On arrival we headed up to Abel Tasman National Park via a few vineyards. We enjoyed tasting the local produce just a shame we had to constrain ourselves as we were driving. We did treat ourselves to a couple of nice bottles for a slightly larger tipple later. We arrived in Motueka last night and decided to camp here. We were strongly recommended not to do the rest of the journey to Takaka given the weather as it was getting dark and apparently it's a very windy road. We'd already passed a car that had gone off the edge of the road down the mountainside with its occupants being rescued. We pitched the tent - in the rain. Can you tell there's a theme to this part of the trip?! We were sitting in the kitchen area watching the deluge as the owner went by. I asked, half in jest, how much was a standard cabin. For another $12 I have to confess we bailed on the camping and treated ourselves to a night in a dry room with a bed. I had such a good nights sleep. We've even decided to stay another night.

Unfortunately NZ is not smiling on us. We've done our best to partake in water-based activities where the weather matters less. However, here there is supposed to be some superb sea kayaking but it's not too appealing in the rain. Slightly frustrating. Despite the weather I like what I've seen so far and especially the people we've met. Must be a good place if you can have a good time in this weather.