After an eventful and very enjoyable 11 days with my parents, we drove to Picton where we went separate ways at the ferry. They were off to Wellington, while I had a few last things I wanted to do around the South Island before I returned to the North. Upon getting into Picton, I had now closed a massive loop around the South Island, starting January 2nd and not finishing until April 11th.

That is a lot of squiggles! And it doesn’t even cover all the repeated routes, like the Te Anau-Queenstown drive, which I probably did 6 or 7 times total. Many miles on my old car. But I wasn’t finished with the loops for the day. After picking up my next travel partner, I went back to Nelson via a different route. Just for some variety.

That, and the coastal route to Picton is a really curvy road. VERY curvy. In the pouring rain (the first rainy day I’d had in…probably 3 weeks), such roads are more a hassle than a joy. Going via Blehheim was flat and boring, but easy for the drive back. We were heading to Nelson for a good reason – I was returning to the Abel Tasman, this time for a few days.