Picton

Woke to a sunny clean morning, soft warm light bathing the harbour and surrounding green hills. Totally different to the day before, and nice being our last full day on the South Island before we catch the ferry to Wellington tomorrow.

We wandered into town and along the waterfront in the sun, enjoying the palm trees big and bold against the blue sky, and the accompanying excellent tunes blaring across the harbour from someone’s sound system.

In Le Cafe we enjoyed a coffee with Ken (who we’d met on the west coast and stayed with in Westport). It was lovely to see him again! After coffee, Ken took us back to his car to kindly show us around his 'hood.

Ken took us up steep Victoria Domain Road that climbed up onto the top of a promontory called the Snout providing an eyeful of views down the Sound. It was beautiful. And a view we never would have seen had it not been for Ken.

Onwards to Waikawa Marina where Ken works (making bespoke boat upholstery for those with vessels moored there) - the third-largest floating marina in New Zealand. Lots of large shiny white boats! And also fur seals! Lolling about on the jetties and relaxing and playing in the water. As a contractor Ken has access to the locked jetties and took us down so we could get a closer look. And they weren’t shy: made our day seeing them so up close. Boat owners don’t like them too much however as sometimes they climb onto boats and use the awnings as hammocks and their poo makes a mess of things.

Ken lives very near the marina and he took us back to his place and showed us around. We were astounded by how much he’d achieved renovating the house: he’s a very skilled can-do man! He also showed us his workshop where he works, stuffed full of industrial sewing machines set into huge large platforms to manage the large material he and his co-worker use to do the upholstery and sail making.

Back in Picton we went to the Oxley Hotel’s Bar to watch the rugby, All Blacks and France test series playing in the Sky Stadium just over the water in Wellington.

Next morning we checked out of our motel and went to Seabreeze cafe and sat outside - in the sun! And to celebrate our last day in the South Island we ate a huge carrot cake slice that was as big as Amanda’s head. Was beautifully relaxing sitting there catching up with FindPenguins and watching the world go by.

It was soon time to catch the ferry and we cycled down to the terminal, checked in, and loaded our bikes onto the van that takes them down to be loaded onto the ferry whilst we go on as foot passengers. One last South Island downpour to wave us off and we were at sea!

Was very atmospheric gliding through the Sound and islands on our way to Wellington and for most of the four hour journey we were ‘top-side’ watching the world go by and waiting for a leaping whale. No leaping whale.

Was dusk as we approached the North Island and another downpour on our arrival mirrored that of our departure. Wonderfully, we didn’t have to cycle in the dark and rain as Steph and Don were there to meet us off the ferry and take us in their car back to their home!! We’d met Steph and Don at the start of our trip about two months ago, when we were cycling between Queenstown and Dunedin. They had very kindly said to look them up when we reached Welly: and here we were! It was great to see them both again. Their house in Island Bay is a beautiful home and we were overwhelmed by their generous hospitality. Over a tasty dinner (thanks Steph for the recipe!) we chatted and caught up and had a lovely time. That night we had the sleep of the dead, safe and warm under a friendly roof.Leggi altro