We took the Queen Charlotte Drive out of Picton, a cliff-hugging experience of 30 km. I was driving and enjoying myself, though Eric not so much for the first bit. There are wonderful views out over the sound, and of distant hills. We picked up Highway 6 at Havelock (is this sounding like Ontario?) and went through two lots of mountains to Nelson. The road is wonderfully twisty, good for width, not so good for guardrails (they put them on the outside curves, but the straightaways you are on your own). It is rated at 100 km, with cautionary corner speed limits that are quite accurate. We pulled over a couple of times to let the locals, or the fools, pass.
Nelson is on the sea. We had a lovely lunch at the Boat Shed Cafe, right on the water with a deck cantilevered out over the sea. You could feed the fishes through the deck boards. Food was good - a scallop salad for Eric and a scampi one for me - and the staff very friendly. It was $55 - food is not inexpensive - but that includes GST and tip, which are not add-ons.
We drove through some more hilly country to Murchison, which we decided was far enough for the day (it was 4:30 pm). We checked out the one BBH place in Murchison and found The Lazy Cow. Probably the best stop yet. In addition to a lovely room, this place does suppers for $12. Tonight it was venison mince, slow cooked in wine, with a mustard mashed potato crust. It was served with steamed carrots, zucchini, runner beans, braised Seville cabbage and soured red cabbage. Fresh blueberry and apple pie, with ice cream for dessert ($5) - we split one. MMMM!
We continued our astronomy lessons (more light tonight), and turned in, as usual, very tired from the day but very satisfied.
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