Murky ol ' Murchison (via Serene St Arnaud)

We left Picton in the rain and headed to Blenheim.  Blenheim is a lovely part of the world (especially if you like wine). We pushed on to St Arnaud and were completely captivated by nature's beauty.  DH had a kayak while PB slept, then we all went for a bush walk around the side of Lake Rotoiti.  The trees were covered in a black fungi and a lovely English tourist we chatted to told us all about it, something to do with the honeydew beetle, it's long anal passage that looks like a thread hanging out of the trees and how the wasps like the sweet residue on the end of the thread. He suggested we put our finger on said threads to gather up said sweetness.  I politely informed the gentleman that he lost me at 'anal passage'. The water was SO clear, that from the jetty,  you could see eels!  I also saw a trout,  but didn't manage to snap a photo of it. We carried on  through skinny roads,  road works and wet.  We made it to Murchison to our first Association  campsite.  (NZMCA)  We lined up a likely spot, started backing in, only to have a grumpy Englishman charge out of his caravan at us squawking that we'd be too close. We'll,  a fine welcome indeed.  (We later nicknamed him Gargamel, and he deserved it. We found another spot (equally close) between two lovely couples, one from Canada who donated PB a pink spoon from his cereal and the other who'd come from Blenheim where they had 16 grand kids! Murchison rained through the night and into the morning, and that, coupled with our welcome from Gargamel makes it 'Murky Murchison' for me.