Both feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep, it was time to get moving again as we had to be ready to get the bus at 8:45am. It was a much clearer day today so we were greeted with a beautiful backdrop of the mountain range Pinky had told us about. We hadn't seen it yesterday as it was completely hidden by clouds! It looked amazing and we couldn't believe such big mountains were hidden like that. About 15 minutes into our journey, we made our first stop: the Oahu seal pups colony. A short walk from the bus following a stream, greeted us with a huge group of very playful seal pups. They were so small and cute as some swam and played in the water whilst others sat on the rocks either looking at us or scratching. After getting some photos, we carried on up the track to a small bridge where the pups were playing in the water underneath. As we went to carry on up the track, we noticed there were several pups not in the water but in fact sitting by the path watching us, one brave little one even came running down the path right by our feet, we'd been advised not to try and touch them as they have been known to bite and they will more than likely give you a disease! It was so funny seeing them so close, the little brave one even sat on the bridge as if he was blocking everyone's path. At the end of the walk is a waterfall where there were so many pups splashing, playing, fighting and posing, it was incredible! Everyone took lots of photos but they really don't do it justice as to how many there were. The reason all these pups are up here and not in the sea, is that the mothers bring them here as a kind of day care centre while they go out fishing for up to 3 weeks at a time! The pups are brought here to stay safe until they are old and big enough for the sea. Incredibly, they somehow know when their mother has returned from the sea and they make their way down the stream to meet them to be fed. It's so clever and I definitely never would have known that seals were capable of such a thing!
 
Once back on the bus, we hit the road again and our next stop was Blenheim . Blenheim lies deep in the heart of the Marlborough region and its an area which is becoming world famous for the quality of its wines, in particular its Sauvignon Blancs. Blenheim's first name was originally Beaver Town, a name gained when the first survey party to the area were caught in a flood and had to sit on piles of wood to escape the water (like beavers on a dam) and the town still has a beaver as its mascot! There's only a population of around 10,000 here but it had quite a big town centre considering. We stopped for an hour here for a look around and to get some food. We got some beautiful bread and muffins from a bakery and got our first chance to see how much cheaper things are here than in Australia. We had already noticed one other big difference: it is so cold here!!! So we stopped in a shop where I could buy a jumper as the only one I had was a $9 grey fleece I bought for working in Orange and didn't really want to be wearing it in all my photos of New Zealand!
 
After another hour and a half on the road, we arrived in Picton where we were staying at a cute little hostel called The Villa . This is the crossing over point for people travelling to and from the north as it is the home of the ferries so some of the bus stayed with Pinky to go up to Wellington, leaving just 9 of to continue round the South Island with a new driver in the morning. As we were checking in, we were offered a 10 bed dorm which, under normal circumstances, would sound horrific but this was actually perfect as we all got to know each other a lot better really quickly! Our group included Ella, Flore, Cathal, Catriona and Kevin, who we had already met, plus Sarah who was from Belgium and Laura from Germany.
 
After a quick cuppa and a few games of cards, we all decided to head out for a walk. Picton is a tiny little town and only really gets used as a ferry port. It's very picturesque though as it's surrounded by mountains and has a beautiful waterfront area where the ferries come in. In the summer, this must be a lovely place to stop as there's lots of walks to do, mountain biking, kayaking, sailing and lots more but as it was freezing cold, raining and we only had the afternoon here, we weren't going to get to do any of those things . 
 
After our walk round, the group decided there was only one thing for it... "beer o'clock!" There were no objections so we headed straight to the bottle shop. Kevin and Flore decided to have a quick dip in the hot tub at the hostel then everyone cooked dinner and we set about playing cards again. Everyone was having such fun and we'd even gained another group member, her name is Nienke and she's from holland and it turned out she was going to be leaving with us on the bus tomorrow. The next few hours of drinking was quite pivotal in what turned us from a group of strangers into what is now known as "the family". Everyone got on so well and all seemed like lovely people. We played until the drink ran out at around midnight with only a quick break for free apple crumble which is one of the hostel's added bonuses. 
 
The next morning everyone packed and got ready for the arrival of our new bus and the other travellers joining us along with our new driver from Wellington. Pinky had said we were lucky people as our new driver was to be a guy called Seagull! Yep, like the bird! As he's somewhat of a Stray legend apparently. As you'll read later, he sure lived up to that title!!!