Look out Collingwood here we come.

We awoke to the sound of rain, but it did not deter us, and we left to drive up route 60 to Collingwood, the end of the line.

The Heaphy Track, a walking route, from Karamea ends here but it takes quite some days to do. We drove up in the pouring rain and mist and arrived in time to have an all day breakfast overlooking Collingwood Main Street. This was and interesting place with quite a history dating back to the 1900’s when it was a small trading port. It was not a total success due to the tidal flows which disturbed shipping timetables but nevertheless it was used for the export of sheep(what else) and GOLD, so it did have some history. Today it’s pretty much on its last legs with a number of shops and houses for sale. The journey back was more picturesque apart from an old Volkswagen mini van which had turned over on the main road.

The weather today for photography was not good as there was too much mist which restricted views although there were odd glances of high mountains, lots of greenery and steep high roads with no security and plenty of sheep.

We decided to hit the local Pizza hotspot tonight and only found that the owner used to work for a company that supplied Warehouse Computer Systems to my ex company. It’s a small world.

Fuel prices here in NZ are receiving a lot of coverage due to the heavy price hikes. Unleaded fuel is now £ 0.75 per litre and Diesel is now £ 0.52 per litre at the present rate of exchange. I don’t know what they are complaining about.

Tomorrow we leave Nelson for Blenheim, the heart of the Marlborough wine area, should be good.