Day 2

Today we awoke early to a beautiful morning here in Wellington.  Thank goodness, because we have been told that the weather and thus the seas on Cook Strait can be very testy.  We have an early check-in at the ferry, not later than 7:25, for an 8:25 departure.  We decided to eat breakfast on the ferry, I am skeptical given my 24 year history with Navy food, but we'll throw caution to the wind.

I feel a little like Jonah as we approach the loading ramp.  This is the biggest of the three Interislander ferries, the Kaitaki.  She can carry up to 1600 passengers and six hundred cars.  There are onboard lounges, bars, a theatre, and several staterooms.  The total crossing takes about 3 hours from Wellington to Picton, with about 1.5 hours out in the open straits.  Cost about $560 round trip.

They loaded us into very tight positions on the mezzanine auto deck, and we went up to find the cafe.

So here we are.  From left to right we have Ann, Ken, Bec, Zack and Emma.  The scrambled eggs were reminiscent of far too many breakfasts I have had on other ships at sea.  Other than that, there were reclining lounge chairs to use and many decks from which to take in the scenery passing by the ship as we transited the straits and into Tory Channel and Queen Charlotte Sound heading into Picton.  Picton is a small town at the top of the South Island which seems to rely mostly on the ferry business and tourism.



To say that the scenery is spectacular is an understatement.

Driving south from Picton about 25 minutes is the town of Blenheim.  Blenheim is the epicenter of the Marlbourgh wine region which put New Zealand on the map with their Sauvignon Blanc wines.  New Zealand is a land of stark contrasts that take place in a very short distance.  As you come down out of the lush coastal vegetation around Picton, you enter into a flat dry plain very reminiscent of the area around Santa Barbara, California.  We'll come back to Blenheim towards the end of the trip, so we won't dwell on the area now.

Yes the green off to the right are vineyards.  More grapes than we had ever seen before!

We'll break today into two parts.  Be back later.