To Wellington
Today we are to catch the inter-island ferry to the North Island crossing the Cook Strait, an area known to be a little rough in bad weather, and today the sky was overcast, my hopes were high for a little excitement during the crossing, but only time would tell.
After breakfast and packing the car, we left Blenheim for the short half hour journey to Picton at the bottom of Queen Charlotte Sound, where we were to drive our car onto the ferry just after lunchtime for the 100km trip to Wellington.
Of course we arrived much too early to board our ferry so we found a place to park our car after exploring the docks area of Picton, including the commercial docks, where they load the Pine Logs for export (I think China could be the main destination for these logs). This is a very large area with many 1,000s of logs, sorted and waiting to be loaded on to ships for export.
Even while watching there was a steady stream of logging trucks off loading the freshly harvested logs to be added to the stock pile waiting for export.
We left the dock area once we knew where we had to be for our departure and went, you guessed it, SHOPPING! (with 2 ladies where else!) Picton may only be a small town, but, because it is one end of the inter Island ferry route, it has an endless supply of tourists and the shops to service them! These shops cater for all tourists, Rich and Poor alike.
Carolann found one particular shop that was a little “up market,” It really catered for the rich, selling richly carved “Green Stone” (Known in China as Jade). Luckily she is a very sensible shopper, so she did not spend any money, which is a good thing, because we would have needed to see our bank manager for a loan. They may have been beautiful but they also had a beautiful price tag.
We had an early lunch in a small café before returning to the car and driving to the ferry. When the time came we were told to drive onto the ferry and onto the car deck, once we were parked we were told to lock the car and to take anything we wanted for the trip and proceed up to the passenger deck but to stay inside for now.
It was not long before all the trucks and cars were safely on board and the loading ramps were firmly shut! Soon we were on our way.
The weather had lifted a little, but still rained from time to time and there were times the sun shone, but there was still some wind, my hopes were up!
The trip through the sound and the Tory Channel was smooth, and this was to be expected, but once we could see across Cook Strait to the North Island, my heart sank, the sea, while it had white caps being whipped up by the wind, was smooth. The ferry hardly rocked, the outside decks were declared safe and opened, for me the trip did not live up to expectations. We could walk around without holding on.
Soon we were docked in Wellington Harbour and on our way to the hotel that we had booked, the same hotel where the wedding reception was to be held on Saturday Evening.
Once at the Hotel we were greeted by more of our friends, who were also there for the wedding and our feast started just a little early. I think that in some ways that made up for the very smooth crossing!
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