Waikawa Bay Seafront Apartments Picton

... green water and golden sand.

As we arrived back at Picton we saw the inter-island ferry come in. We drove down to the docks and bought tickets to ride the mail boat. Basically there is a small population of people who live out on the sounds, cut off from Picton apart from by boat. So every week they get their mail delivered by the mail boat which comes round and drops it off in a grey sack. We rode on this boat and watched as we arrived at jetties ...

... enough for me! I pulled up to a little garden farm where we could feed tame eels. We bought a bag of eel feed and suddenly got befriended by a cat - it seems eel feed is also cat food!!! After feeding the eels and ducks and swans and the cat we wandered to this little farm which was basically someones backyard! There were llamas and a goat which Sophie got attached to! There were also hens and a turkey which Sophie didnt like ...

... next to our ferry...It was all beautiful.

As we got closer to the South Island, we had to weave in and out of the islands to get to the porto of Picton. It was breathtaking and I took lots of pictures. Lots of fishing boats, many sailboats, depite the cold and many interesting coastal landscapes. This is what I expected to experience with NZ!!!

The town of Picton was cool. Although ...

... coulé. Bon ben tapis en route pour Picton, nous avons un traversier à prendre. Alors que nous arrivons dans le port, j'entends un klaxon derrière nous. Ce sont mes bons samaritains qui sont là et le conducteur s'approche de nous tranquillement. Avec un large sourire de 96 dents, il me redonne mon couvert de lentille. Les quatre sont tordu de rire, non pardon, les cinq, Guylaine aussi, elle a à ce moment perdu tout sens d'unité avec son chum... Bon, on le prend tu ce traversier?

... is created by the winds being funelled from the huge oceans through the narrow Cook straights which separates the North and South islands. Wellington is cramped in between many hills nestling around a great natural harbour. Old Maouri folklore has it that the legendary Polynesian god Maui when fishing from his waka (canoe) hauled up an enormous ika (fish) that was the North island. Wellington ...

... s not crazy, that's kiwi! incredible hospitality... we just might take them up on their offer... and don't worry, we'll post pics! one more thing... there are fruit orchards everywhere here in north south island... we spent one morning picking berries.. although i think we ate more than we put into our basket to purchase... the boysenberries are awesome! rasberries are not my thing and eunice loved the blueberries! north island, here we come!

... while out gazing at New Zealand I spotted some dolphins heading for our bows. So I headed there myself and got a few pictures of the next group along and what I think is an albatross, plus some other birds. I took a few pictures of the ship and various members of the crew also. Eventually anchored a couple of miles off Napier, for another night on board! The good bottle of wine intended for the officers was instead consumed by myself and "Miss Georgina". Getting frustrated!

... but worth it. We were pressed for time to get back to do teh few things on teh north island we missed the first time so we stopped last on teh south island at Blenheim for a bike wine tasting tour foir the day before getting back on the boat and heading back to Taupo to do teh Tongariro crossing. It is a one day 20km trek taking about 7 hours or so past the volcanic mountain that was Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings film. It was a great day for ...

... for harvest seem pretty nice, I just have to open up a little. A couple of the people who will be working at Indevin for harvest are already here and more will be arriving this week. Since I still have a week before I start work I am thinking about renting a car and driving to Nelson or Kaikora, or something . . . we'll see. More later. I promise to add photos tomorrow.

... tricky. As the train ride is not smooth it is hard to keep the camera still enough to take a decent picture. I soon give up on this idea, but you can get a good view from here. You must also be careful not to put your hand (or your face) out of this car as sometimes you whip into a tunnel which is now 2 inches from your face. Same thing when we go by the trees, they are right there 2 inches from your face, not a place to make a wrong move ...