See you in a bit South Island

Today we waved goodbye temporarily to the island we've called home for 9 months. It's weird to think we haven't left this island for so long yet we've seen, done and experienced so much here. We woke up early this morning to make sure we had plenty of time to get to the ferry. As we drove the sun was rising over the sounds providing some beautiful views and colours in the sky and waters. We arrived in Picton with plenty of time to spare so we used this opportunity to fill up and dump waste from the campervan. Our ferry left at 10:45am but we'd been told to be there at least an hour early. We actually went and checked in at 9:15 and parked the camper in our lane where we left it and headed to the information centre near by. We felt we might as well use this time to get some leaflets for places on the North Island that we will soon be visiting. We were back in the van at 9:45am as instructed but it took an awful long time for anything to actually happen. Many trains of containers were being loaded and unloaded from the downstairs of the ferry. Eventually 40 minutes later the rows of cars started to move and queue up by the ramp to board. We were one of the last rows to go with the other two campervans. Nick did a great job of getting up the ramp without any stalling or need for a hill start. Once we drove on and parked up we headed upstairs to the passenger decks and quickly found where to get coffee from before taking comfy seats at the front of the ferry. It didn't take long for us to set sail and we had a nice view from this area out the side of the boat as well as from the viewing platform outside. For the first hour or so we had a car alarm interrupt the peace by going off every 5 minutes or so. Eventually I think they found the owner over the intercom and got them to disable the alarm. About 45 minutes in the crew in our area announced that there were dolphins outside. Myself and many others rushed out and you could see a pod of 30 or so all jumping in and out of the water. Nick was able to see it through the side window while I was outside taking photos. It was pretty awesome to see and afterwards when I came back in we both saw a little seal cruising alongside us on it's back as well. Eventually after a few hours we were told to head back to our cars as we docked. Once safely off the ferry we had fun trying to navigate Wellingtons highways to get on the correct one that would take us to our airbnb that we've booked for Nick's birthday. We made it in on piece and after executing a perfect reverse park onto a very steep driveway we unpacked our things into our mini flat. It's got all we need and many comforts we have been missing. The bathroom even has a bath, something we haven't had access to in about a year. We made pizzas for tea and enjoyed relaxing in a comfy bed watching films on Netflix. The best part is that it's a bed we haven't had to construct first. We are both very much looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed after almost a month and a half of thin foam cushions.Read more