Across to the South Island

We left Shephard’s Arm a little after 7am this morning after snacking on some of the milk and cereal they provided us in the room. We reached the Interislander ferry terminal without a fuss and were able to drop off our car within the depths of the ship right away. So, we gathered up some of our essential belongings and made our way to the upper decks. The first hour or so was spent outside in the fierce wind taking pictures and watching Wellington move off into the distance. It was interesting how this morning a thick cloud layer was churning over the city but the edges were bright. This proved to be exactly as expected. As soon we were moving away from the last bits of land, we left the cloud cover behind and the sun started to ship brightly once again. This makes me think that Wellington does indeed suffer from some of the same cloud affliction as the Seattle area – thick, gray clouds overhead but you can just see brightness on the edges which seem to promise sunshine but rarely delivers. They say that parts of New Zealand are just like the Northwest but with the way the houses are built here (colour, style and shape), I find it hard to believe.

For the middle portion of the crossing we sat at a table, reading away, until we saw land outside the portholes again. Then it was back up to the top deck for more pictures but I couldn’t hold out as long that time with all wind blowing hard enough to take your breath away. I said in jest to Jacob a few times that I’m just not a ship person. Upon reaching Picton, we had to wade through all the people to get to our car, but once we did, we were able to debark without too much fuss. The problem was more that for some reason, I felt completely sapped afterwards and was of no use to help Jacob navigate to Nelson because I sorely needed sleep. Not sure what brought that on but the need was very strong. I was able to snap a few photos on the beginning of the drive but didn’t really have enough energy for it. So, the rest of the time I slept. Upon waking, I could see that Jacob was going through some difficult, switchback terrain with steep cliffs on the one side. This wasn’t exactly what I expected from this area and it seems to just go on for the longest time, poor guy. I think his hands might have been getting sore from gripping the steering wheel, but that might have just been my perception.

We made it into Nelson a little after 2pm and promptly got ourselves something to eat. We ate at the Smuggler’s Pub and Café a ways from the town center. The food was pretty good and the server was exceptionally forthcoming with information about the area. After our late lunch and finding some lodging at the Green Monkey in town, we went out to the Tahunanui Beach for a long walk while the sunset in before us. The beach was very wide and wet as the tide was going out but that made for a nice cool evening after the warm temperatures through the day.

Once we were done with our beach walk and had cleaned off our feet, we headed back to our lodging to drop of our car. We decided to get some more exercise and trekked the easy 15 min walk into town. It took us awhile to find something to eat as we didn’t really have a destination in mind but we finally were able to settle on a Thai place with decent prices. Jacob had his usual Pad Thai but I tried something call Moo Dong, which had homemade honeyed pork. It was very much like Pad Thai with just a few different flavours. The trek back after dinner was a nice way to alleviate our full bellies. We should try a walk after dinner more often! I’m sure our Kona would agree to that.

Enjoy a cute, little sparrow!