Well, if anything, the weather was actually worse the next day. Throughout the night, we had strong wind gusts come through the holiday park and our little campervan would actually rock back and forth from the wind! We woke to continued blowing wind and rain the next morning, but we were able to get to the showers and get the campervan packed up for check out time at 10 a.m. with no problems. We didn’t need to be lined up for the ferry until 1 p.m. so we had a few hours to kill in Picton and decided to just park the campervan down by the waterfront and walk into town for a cup of tea. Have I mentioned the weather was crazy??? There were times the gusts of wind would actually PUSH us along the street - no kidding!! Man, oh man. We found a café to tuck into and also browsed in a bookstore until it was time to head to the ferry. With the weather as crazy as it was, we also stopped into the tourist information shop to confirm the ferry was running and they were kind enough to call them and check (these Kiwis are so darn nice and helpful!!) and sure enough, everything was a go. We got lined up with all the other vehicles and finally boarded on time for the 2 p.m. sailing. Having only had experience with Washington State ferries, it was quite interesting to drive onto a ship that was at least twice the size of the ones that ply Puget Sound. I couldn’t guess at how many vehicles and people were on it, but there were a lot!! There was even a cattle truck onboard with a dozen or so cattle making the journey with the rest of us. If only they knew what was in store for them……..
Once we had the campervan soundly positioned, we headed up to the passenger level. There are actually two floors that people can hang out on during the 3 hour crossing, with two areas set up like a theater showing movies (Turner and Hooch…..no thanks), a cafeteria and a separate wine and coffee kiosk. In addition, there were lots of different sitting areas, from comfy looking couches to tables with seating around them. We ended up in a corner around a table and were joined by two Kiwi couples who had been on holiday on the South Island. Had a great time chatting with them and comparing notes between our countries!
So…….I think I mentioned the crazy weather……well, it just got worse as the ferry headed out through Queen Charlotte Sound. An overhead announcement was made about an hour into the journey saying we were about to enter the Cook Straight which is wide open to the sea and that the swells would be getting pretty bad. They recommended that everyone stay seated unless they had to get up and that if anyone suffered motion sickness, to use one of the MANY bags that were available in plastic containers on the walls rather than try to get up and go to the bathroom. Well, all I can say is thank goodness neither Jim or I have that problem. In fact, as the ship dipped up and down on the wild waves, I got sleepy and actually snoozed for a bit! One of the women who shared our table though didn’t find the rocking motion quite as relaxing and before long her friends were rushing to grab paper bags for her. Poor thing probably hurled for almost the rest of the trip!!! Finally we made it into the harbor at Wellington on the North Island but the seas were still so rough the ferry couldn’t pull into the dock on it’s own, so they had to call in tug boats to guide us in…..yikes!!! By the time we finally docked and were driving off the ferry, it was about 8 p.m. and our 3 hour crossing had turned into a 6 hour ordeal! I supposed if you count the fact that we had to be in line for the ferry by 1 p.m. it was actually longer, but why add insult to injury, right??? At least we made it to the North Island, and that was all that mattered and the holiday park we chose - thank God - was just a 20 minute drive from Wellington, so even through the crazy wind and rain, we made it there no problem. Safely parked in our spot, we were able to tuck into the restaurant on the premises before they closed and have a relaxing meal after the trials of the day. You can bet we slept soundly, that’s for sure.
This morning we got headed out of Wellington around 9 a.m. with the blustery weather still hanging around. Today was our longest driving day by far since we were driving up to Rotorua, about a 5 hour drive or so north. Fortunately, not too far out of Wellington, the weather calmed down and for the last couple of hours of driving we actually had sunny beautiful weather. As most of you probably know, the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed here, and as we drove through the rolling green hills in the center of the North Island, we could easily see why they chose this area to be the Shire, where the Hobbits live……really beautiful countryside!!
So here we are in Rotorua and tomorrow is the big day when we go “Zorbing” - for those we haven’t told, it’s this crazy activity where you get inside a big see-through plastic ball and go rolling down a hillside. I’ve been wanting to do this for years, so I’m really psyched!! Not sure if they’ll let us take pictures on our own camera (you know how they like you to buy the ones they take) but if they do, we’ll definitely post them!
Also, I may not be putting as many pictures in each blog posting as I would like since the internet time we buy at the holiday park gets eaten up by how many megabytes we use but when we get back to the Quadrant Hotel in Auckland, with their LOVELY unlimited free internet, I’ll definitely make up a photo album so you see a lot more of what we’ve seen. So that’s it for now…….hugs to everyone!
Once we had the campervan soundly positioned, we headed up to the passenger level. There are actually two floors that people can hang out on during the 3 hour crossing, with two areas set up like a theater showing movies (Turner and Hooch…..no thanks), a cafeteria and a separate wine and coffee kiosk. In addition, there were lots of different sitting areas, from comfy looking couches to tables with seating around them. We ended up in a corner around a table and were joined by two Kiwi couples who had been on holiday on the South Island. Had a great time chatting with them and comparing notes between our countries!
So…….I think I mentioned the crazy weather……well, it just got worse as the ferry headed out through Queen Charlotte Sound. An overhead announcement was made about an hour into the journey saying we were about to enter the Cook Straight which is wide open to the sea and that the swells would be getting pretty bad. They recommended that everyone stay seated unless they had to get up and that if anyone suffered motion sickness, to use one of the MANY bags that were available in plastic containers on the walls rather than try to get up and go to the bathroom. Well, all I can say is thank goodness neither Jim or I have that problem. In fact, as the ship dipped up and down on the wild waves, I got sleepy and actually snoozed for a bit! One of the women who shared our table though didn’t find the rocking motion quite as relaxing and before long her friends were rushing to grab paper bags for her. Poor thing probably hurled for almost the rest of the trip!!! Finally we made it into the harbor at Wellington on the North Island but the seas were still so rough the ferry couldn’t pull into the dock on it’s own, so they had to call in tug boats to guide us in…..yikes!!! By the time we finally docked and were driving off the ferry, it was about 8 p.m. and our 3 hour crossing had turned into a 6 hour ordeal! I supposed if you count the fact that we had to be in line for the ferry by 1 p.m. it was actually longer, but why add insult to injury, right??? At least we made it to the North Island, and that was all that mattered and the holiday park we chose - thank God - was just a 20 minute drive from Wellington, so even through the crazy wind and rain, we made it there no problem. Safely parked in our spot, we were able to tuck into the restaurant on the premises before they closed and have a relaxing meal after the trials of the day. You can bet we slept soundly, that’s for sure.
This morning we got headed out of Wellington around 9 a.m. with the blustery weather still hanging around. Today was our longest driving day by far since we were driving up to Rotorua, about a 5 hour drive or so north. Fortunately, not too far out of Wellington, the weather calmed down and for the last couple of hours of driving we actually had sunny beautiful weather. As most of you probably know, the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed here, and as we drove through the rolling green hills in the center of the North Island, we could easily see why they chose this area to be the Shire, where the Hobbits live……really beautiful countryside!!
So here we are in Rotorua and tomorrow is the big day when we go “Zorbing” - for those we haven’t told, it’s this crazy activity where you get inside a big see-through plastic ball and go rolling down a hillside. I’ve been wanting to do this for years, so I’m really psyched!! Not sure if they’ll let us take pictures on our own camera (you know how they like you to buy the ones they take) but if they do, we’ll definitely post them!
Also, I may not be putting as many pictures in each blog posting as I would like since the internet time we buy at the holiday park gets eaten up by how many megabytes we use but when we get back to the Quadrant Hotel in Auckland, with their LOVELY unlimited free internet, I’ll definitely make up a photo album so you see a lot more of what we’ve seen. So that’s it for now…….hugs to everyone!
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