Fifteen days on the road and I 'spose it was time I should think about heading home...

With a 2pm sailing I had plenty of time to get to Picton so I decided to take my time and get in one last dose of gravel around Port Underwood.

After my last fill of South Island Super I cruised across Nelson and found myself at the bottom of the Whangamoa's.  This and the Rai Saddle are always a favourite and although there were a few sections of roadworks to get through it was just as good as I'd remembered.

In Havelock I ignored my normal turn-off (to go through Queen Charlotte Sound) and stuck to the more boring ride on SH6 until the turn-off to Spring Creek.  At Spring Creek I went straight ahead and started making for the Coast.
After pootling through Rarangi the road quickly becomes narrow and windy, eventually the seal ends and you're riding on narrow, windy gravel.  In places the road was a little corrugated and there was even the odd soft bit from the previous day's rain.

Along the way the road rises and falls and takes you past a number of little bays, the first of those that I stopped at was Robin Hood Bay.

Merry Men mowing the lawn...As I'd left Rarangi there was the odd car on the road but after about ten minutes it seemed like I was the only one about.  One little surprise I had was when a couple of wild pigs (mmmm, bacon) clambered out of the drain and ran across the road in front of me - I don't see that very often...

Nice place to stop for...