The next morning we took one last look at our vineyard retreat in Renwick.

We then drove up the Wairau Valley, over 90km – and incredibly, most of that way was past vineyards. No wonder the Marlborough region produces so much wine. At the end of the drive were the Nelson Lakes at the foot of the mountains.

We visited Lake Rotoiti, although there are two of them. These mountains form the start of the Southern Alps, which run 500km down the spine of the South Island.

Strange to see sea-birds here, but the lake is only 70km or so from the sea.