Merrily we Ferry
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2008
1
6
20
Trip End
Sep 23, 2008
Picton,
South Island,
New Zealand
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
You can't take the Avis car on the InterIsland Ferry-a three hour boat ride across Cook Straight and through a bunch of islands from Wellington to the "Other" island. So, we consolidate our baggage, have breakfast, fill the North Island rental car with gasoline and go hunting for Debi's target: Knit World. After searching, we find it. It reminds me of the Yarn Shop in Overland Park but Debi sees much more. She and a Kiwi Lady compare notes about how big the heel of the sock she is knitting ought to be and other high tech topics. We buy some yarn and some needles and Debi says that while Yarn World has some items of the same items available at home they also have some different items. Among them, yarn with possum fur in it. Very nice. To my eyes, it mostly just lies there and plays dead
Loading the Ferry
. Apt.Our ferry sails at 2:00pm and we finish all of the above by noon. We're not hungry so the thing to do seems to be stopping at Starbuck's for coffee and an internet hotspot. As I write this, we have another half-hour on the parking meter to finish our coffee and then make our way to the ferry terminal. It is pretty informal; you lock up your rental car and give the keys to the ferry personnel who then call Avis and they come and pick up your car. You then pick up a different Avis car on the South Island and continue on your journ
Speaking of informal, one interesting fact concerning "trust." No place that we have stayed has wanted to swipe our credit card at check-in. They all have me fill out a paper and pen form giving them our name and address but they ask for no identification. The next morning, when it is time to move on, they finally ask you to pay; almost apologetically. I guess nobody skips out on the bill here.
Wellington is the capitol of New Zealand and the downtown business area is very compact and like any other downtown except for the fact that the streets are more narrow and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road and the cars pass you on the wrong side of the street and the pedestrians pop out from the wrong side of the street in the rain and you have to parallel park backwards from what you are used to twisting your body to look over your left shoulder instead of twisting your body to look over your right shoulder like we do at home but there's really no place to park anyway and the lady's voice in the Garmin GPS device speaks in a Kiwi accent and the street names are mostly in the Maori language-that of the indigenous population-and so you can't really understand the street names because the words are weird and all that, put together, well, it creates a great stress on the driver
Chain the Vehicles
. He much prefers the more rural areas of the country. Luckily, that is about 99.99% of what's here. The roads are mostly narrow and mostly curvy and the scenery is constantly distracting but, all in all, being outside the cities is best.We board the Atatere, along with two trains and scores of vehicles from cars to double semi-trucks across from one of the port's main exports: logs. The ferry is luxurious in club class and we enjoy a wine and cheese lunch while watching David Letterman and a cheesy movie on our personal video system until the view outside beckons during the last hour or our three-hour voyage. Through the Cook Strait and into Picton, the scenery and weather improve as we make landfall at Picton on the South Island. We find lodging at the Broadway Motor Inn, have dinner at the Sail Inn, walk around a wee bit and turn in(n).
Comments
Pictures
The last three pix from Picon are Russell Kitchen wall ready!! Beautiful!! Love and kisses Linda PS still miss you!