Scorching weather on the Spit

Guess what? Yep, it's bright and sunny again today. It turned out to be a scorcher in the end, must have been up in the high 20's, both me and Deb are sporting red necks this evening!I woke up real early this morning, so decided to make the most of it and had a quick shower and breakfast and jumped in the car and nipped down to the beach to grab some photos of the early morning rays. Turned out to be a bit too cloudy so the sunrise was a bit flat but managed to get a couple of shots in. I will get the photos posted soon enough but wil wait until we've got broadband / wireless in the room otherwise I have to pay to use an internet cafe.Once Deb was ready we set off for Farewell Spit, the northern most tip of the SOuth Island. The route took us along the coastline the ducked inshore for a bit as we circumnavigated the Abel Tasman park, up through some high passes then back down to the coastline for the final stretch up to the spit. We got up pretty at one point during the journey, in fact up above the clouds! We have some great shots of the cloud filling the valley floor, looked just like a big bowl of white candyfloss or cotton wool!As we got closer to the Spit there was a huge number of NZ Black Swans wading around in the shallows by the shoreline, easily several thousand of them. I made the mistake of not stopping there and then to take some pictures, thinking I would catch them on the way back. Didn't work out though as by the time we were heading back the tide had gone out and in places the beach / mudflats must have been as much as half a mile wide so no chance of seeing the swans close up.We had some lunch in the cafe at the SPit, sitting on the veranda over looking the very picturesque sand spit. They claim this to be the worlds longest spit, somewhere in the region of 35km long. They've done the sensible thing here though by strictly limiting who can go on the Spit to ensure the wildlife is undisturbed. If it had been in the UK it would have been developed for housing!After lunch we went for a stroll, well it was a stroll for me but a bit more arduous for Deb. Of course it included climbing the biggest hill in the area at the hottest time of the day, followed by a slog across some sand dunes to check out a beautiful fine grained white sandy beach. Like most of the beaches round here, no more than a handful of people on it.Took a steady drive back to Nelson and finished the day by picking up some fish and chips from the harbour side. Fish freshly caught that day, tasted wonderful.Final night in Nelson tonight then up sticks and drive easterly to Kaikoura. What with it being Easter we have already booked ahead for our whale watching trip at Kaikoura on Saturday. You should have seen Deb's face when they offered us 07:15! In the end we plumped for a lunchtime trip, should give the wind a bit more of a chance to build up the swell! Would have loved to do the early trip, what with us being on the eastern side of the island we could have watched the sunrise as we headed out to sea. Won't stop me getting up though as the motels right on the beach so it will be nice to have a stroll first thing... will let you know how the trip goes.