Blenheim to Wellington

The Ferry was due to depart from Picton at 09.40 hrs and we had to be there one hour in advance and so we had an early start to drive the 40 minutes to Picton. The weather was really great but after about two hours the clouds came back and it looked like rain again.

However we boarded the ferry, not a patch on P & O or any other line operating across the English Channel. The PR stuff on the InterIslander website made you believe you were going on the latest ship with all mod cons but in reality this ship was at least 30 to 40 years old and was not a true roll on-roll off ferry but something that looked to have been converted for the D-Day landings.

The journey took about 3 hours and we arrived in Wellington at about 1315 and headed off to our downtown Hotel.

We spent the afternoon walking along the waterfront and the streets of Wellington looking at the shops and arcades and there were loads of people just sitting in bars or street cafes not too much intent on work. Some of the new buildings going up in Wellington are quite different architecture to what you would expect, see photos, and also there is the Wellington Arts Festival on.

The wind blew like crazy, and this place has a reputation for strong winds and even typhoons but it was not cold. Whilst walking along the sea front we almost got blown over.

We were looking for the Tourist Bus which used to circulate this town but apparently it has stopped which is a shame but anyway tomorrow we will go up the cable car and see the Botanical gardens.

Whilst on our walk we called in to a couple of internet shops as I have some photos to upload and asked what speed their lines are, mostly we got a blank stare and the answer was ‘very fast’, but how fast I ask, ‘we don’t know’. When you have loads of photos to upload you need a fast line or it can take forever. We shall see how fast when we pay them a visit.

When we booked this complete trip some many months ago we were unaware that an ex business colleague of Noel’s ( Brian Wyeth) now lives in New Zealand and so we made contact to make arrangements to see them. We thought they were based in Auckland but they are about 5 hours north of Auckland. So now we are very busy re arranging our North Island schedule, cancelling some hotels and booking new ones so that we can meet up which Brian and Sheila, which we are really looking forward to