Curving through the Queen Charlotte Drive

Six or so weeks ago while driving through Nelson, our Airbnb hosts asked if we’d come the fast way or the scenic way from the ferry drop off in Picton. We’d chosen the fast way last time, because it was getting late, starting to rain, and we were ready to be done traveling for the day. Happily though, on our way to Picton this time, we had time to take the scenic route – the Queen Charlotte Drive!

While the ‘fast’ highway takes you cross country in relatively straight stretches, the QCD hugs the shoreline of one of the long fiords scattered around the top of the South Island. We had some lovely low tide water views, both from the top of a lookout we hiked to as well as right from the road and we got to go through some nice residential areas.

And as we pulled into Picton, we were both feeling like this way didn’t take much longer than the ‘fast’ one, so it was certainly the right choice this time.