Cousin Ted
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2007
1
78
131
Trip End
Jun 2009
Featherstone,
New Zealand
Sunday, December 9, 2007
The weather was wet and windy and the thought of crossing the strait the following day in this weather did not fill either of us with much enthusiasm. The road back towards Renwick followed closely the coast of the Marlborough and then Queen Charlotte Sound, where the Wellington to Picton Ferry travelled. The view points along the way were once again stunning, giving us both birds eye views over the sounds. We tried to follow some of the queen charlotte track, a treking track which takes you from one end to the other of the sound, however the roadway was difficult to follow and with time pushing we turned around and came back onto the main drag. We briefly stopped in Anakiwa for Lunch watching the ferry in the distance appear from nowhere and dissappear somewhere else within the sounds as if by magic
Looking out into Marlborough Sound
. Back on the road to Picton we got stuck behind a group of school kids who seemed to be cycling along the sounds. The weather was windy and the roads were hilly with blind corners and sheer cliffs on one side down into the water below. With very few teachers considering the size of the group this did not look to be the best day or best place for 30 or so teenagers to be cycling. We stopped above Picton harbour for a quick break to see the huge operation that was the ferry port, the constanst rolling on and off of cars, campervan and lorries. It made us think where all there people were going, we had been on the south island for 4 weeks and hardly seen anyone most of the time. We stopped the night in Blenhiem in order to get an early start the following morning, to give us time to visit a couple of the wineries in and around Renwick, where we had found our favourite wines last time.
After stopping in at HUIA winery and Nautilus (Twin Islands) - where we had to have a quick sample to make sure they were still good. We also went across the road from Nautilus to another winery which had been closed last time we were here. The wines were so good, we obliged and bought a couple - Well it would be rude not to. Then it was back in the Van for the final journey back to Picton and the Ferry. The crossing was uneventful and not as rough as the journey over to the south island
Looking the Opposite Way
. We sat inside for most of the time, enjoying the warmth, only going outside as we entered the North Island. Off the ferry and the plan was to head out and spend the night with cousin ted - Kev's cousin Kenneth, who had moved out to NZ a couple of years ago. He lived in featherstone on the east side of wellington and we thought that it would take about an hour to get there from the ferry port. We were making good time until we hit Lower Hutt, a road which climbed and climbed for mile after mile, round long curvey bends with only one lane each way. The van began to struggle and we began to slow, the road was never ending, and with cars lining up behind us we had to make frequent stops to allow them to pass. It took an hour to drive up from Lower to Upper Hutt alone, however once at the top the run down to featherstone was fairly easy. We finally arrived at Teds some 2 1/2 hours after setting off from Wellington. Upon arriving at Teds we realised quickly why we had been told why the journey should only take an hour with Teds 4x4 sitting in the driveway.
Ted hadn't changed, even though it had been quite a number of years since i had last seen him, his looks and sense of humor were still the same. Almost immediately we were invited to stay the weekend and with Ted and his partner Shelby we spent the next couple of days drinking wine and eating good food. We took a trip out on the second day to Tararua Gorge, a suspension bridge in the middle of nowhere, Greytown which is the largest town in the Martinborough region and into Martinborough itself - Well once again when in rome. The time flew by unfortunately and before long we knew it was time to head off. The West Coast was calling and time was nearly up. We said out goodbyes and hit the road, Waganui was where we were heading some 400+km west, it was going to be a long day.
