On Our Way Down South (June 2)

We left Palmerston North on June 1 and drove to Wellington. We decided to stay the night in Wellington and catch the ferry first thing the next morning. In Wellington we stayed downtown and had the afternoon to explore. We took Russ to Te Papa for a few hours and enjoyed watching the giant squid movie and also took a simulated ride on an underwater sub to visit the underwater Brothers volcano which is offshore of the Bay of Plenty area. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the water front and then walked up Cuba Street to find somewhere to have dinner. Cuba Street is full of restaurants and you can pick from almost any ethnic choice.

We got up early on the Thursday morning to head to the ferry for an 8:30am departure. We had to be at the terminal by 7:30am but there were not the facilities that we have at our terminals and we ended up just sitting in the car until we boarded around 8:30. The boat itself was huge. The Interislander Ferry Route has three or more ferries and we were on the Kaitaki. This boat has 10 floors and on deck 2 there are 2 movie theatres and a large inside playground, really a large jungle gym. There are also several restaurant options and lots of seating. We had a hot breakfast and then Bree met some girls from Singapore and they spent a few hours in the play area. The day was clear but windy and so we spent some time on the observation deck and enjoyed the spectacular views as we entered into the protected bay of the South Island. The ferry trip from Wellington to Picton generally takes 3 hours and it can get quite rough crossing the middle of Cook Straight. Fortunately we had very calm weather and arrived by noon in the small town of Picton.

We had already booked a hotel in Motueka which is near the Abel Tasman Park as it was a long weekend and we wanted to make sure we had a place to stay. The first weekend in June is the Queen’s Birthday and so the Monday was a Holiday and as is typical with long weekends the forecast was for a storm and lots of rain. We figured we had a day or two to get some kayaking and hiking in before the rain hit so we headed straight to Motueka. It was a nice drive through the numerous vineyards and through the mountains over to Nelson. Nelson is a popular seaside town and we had visited here before when Bree was a baby. It was only 50km from Nelson to Moteuka and we arrived here mid-afternoon. We got settled in and booked a paddling trip for tomorrow. I can’t wait to finally get out and see some of Abel Tasman Park!