On the 27th of December we drove from Auckland to New Plymouth. We stayed two nights in New Plymouth with the intention to climb Mt Taranaki. Unfortunately a large snowfall the night before meant we were unable to do the summit track. Instead we did what we called the ‘instagram’ walk to the Pouakai Tarn. It was an easy walk there and back to get the view of Mt Taranaki reflected in the tarn. Spot the edited photo 😉. While in New Plymouth we also visited the light festival in the park.

Two days later we headed to Picton via the Interislander. Stopped in Bulls for a famous cream horn.

After loading the car onto the ferry relaxed and enjoyed the sunset view in the sounds. The following day we walked a section of the Queen Charlotte Track to the Grove Arm lookout point.

In the afternoon we visited Framingham vineyard about 20 Minutes from Picton. The wine has amazing and we tried lots of varieties with the 10 type tasting. Our favourite was the rose and the old vine Riesling that is made from the grape vines planted in the 1980’s.

The perfect mini Marlborough experience!