On our way north to Murderer's Bay.

Abel Tasman was on an exploratory voyage for the Dutch East India Company when, in 1642, he became the first European to stumble on New Zealand. 

He got off to a bad start on first contact with the Maori when they interpreted his blowing of the ship's trumpet as a battle challenge. A number of war canoes appeared, one of them rammed a long boat, and in the end 4 of his sailors died. Thus the peaceful Golden Bay of today was initially dubbed Murderer's Bay.

After leaving Twizel we drove to Arthur's Pass – the high point between Christchurch on the dry east coast and the wet western shore. 

It lived up to its reputation for inclement weather and sent us on our way the next day in a real gully washer of a storm.

But while there, I made my Kea sighting. My initial blog identified the Kakapo as the inquisitive parrot that loved rubber windshield wipers, but it is the Kea that earned that reputation. (The Kakapo are endangered, being brought back from near extinction on 3 islands that can only be visited under supervision).

These silly parrots (the Kea) are quite tame and have no fear of landing on your table or in the middle of a busy road. This brazen behavior (in a bird that is reported to be one of the smartest on the islands) may soon lead them to near extinction as well.

On a map it looks like you should be able to make the drive from Twizel to Golden Bay in a long 1 day drive, but in New Zealand there is no such thing as a straight road or a two-laned bridge. So you end up averaging about 40 mph max and everything takes twice as long.

We split the drive into 2 days and stopped our 2nd night in St. Arnaud in Nelson Lake National Park. 

We drove along the coast and saw the "Pancake Rocks" - an  unusual limestone formation,

Looks like Oregon to me.

and stopped in Westport to visit the Coal Museum - the area provided the coal for the industrialization of New Zealand.

Tomorrow we are going to take a walk up Mt Roberts before we finish the drive to Murderer's Bay.

A few more pictures at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6