Nov 15 - Wellington to Picton

Beautiful drive through the pass that the previous day had been so horrible. Saw where the van had turned over and was being cleaned up (imagine being the poor driver!) quite high in the pass.

Arrived in Wellington with little time to see the city. We checked in at the ferry terminal and decided to take the cable car to the top of the hill downtown. Had a brief visit to the Botanical Gardens at the top (very pretty) however couldn't see that much. Back down to a little pie shop tucked away in an alley downtown for the best meat pies I've had since England years ago. Excellent!

Back to the terminal we raced, in time to drive on and take off across Cook's Strait to South Island. The day was perfect; sunny and hot and the views were beyond belief. We sailed through islands and beautiful water. The ship (Bluebridge Ferry) was absolutely gorgeous. Everything on it is top drawer; bars and cafe's in beautiful wood. All seating was leather and immaculate burgundy carpets. There was a large theatre with a huge screen. Don't know what was showing but it looked very impressive. The trip took 3 hours and 20 minutes. We were offloaded quickly and off we headed to Kaikoura.

The South Island is completely different from the North. Here the mountains are bare or grassy with very few trees at all. Fewer sheep and they are more of a brown colour than the white of the north. Loads and loads of wineries (yippee!!!)! The highways (so far) are straighter on the east coast however we hear that will all change when we cross over to the west coast. Highway 1 took us beside the Pacific on one side and a railway track on the other, very close to the road. Tall cliffs on our right side with lots of "falling rock" signs. Always makes us feel secure, especially since we'd heard that until the last couple of days, there had been a lot of rain here. We were also surprised to discover that it is much hotter here. We'd expected it to be colder since we are further south. The ocean is more of a baby blue than in the north where it tended to be turquoise or jade colour.

We arrived late at the campground and were fortunate to get one of the last sites. First time this has happened to us. Kaikoura is a hot spot for tourists so this is probably why.

Later!
Sharon