The next morning, we headed to the South Island (see previous New Zealand posts).
There are two main car/passenger ferry lines operating between Wellington and Picton; the Interislander (which we took), and BlueBridge. Both cover the roughly 100km/60mi route — half on the open waters of the Cook Strait, and half zig-zagging among islands and fjords — in around 3.5 hours.
We’d chosen a mid-day sailing just to make it easy on ourselves. We had a pleasant and unhurried breakfast, and then called for an Uber to take us to the ferry terminal.
Check in was easy (we’d bought tickets before we left home).
It was very windy with scattered rain showers, so it wasn’t a lounge-on-deck kind of crossing. We found some inside seats near the bow, and settled in for the long ride.
Between the natural wind and the ship’s forward motion, the wind outside was hold-onto-the-railing-or-else strength, so my photos are mostly through rain-spattered windows. Out in the middle of the Strait, surrounded by showers, there wasn’t much to see anyway.
The ship offered limited wi-fi and a scattering of electrical outlets so we kept ourselves entertained during the crossing.
It’s a busy area, so there was more to see as we approached the South Island, and the small town of Picton.
Once in Picton, we landed, collected our bags, and then walked the short distance to Piwaka Lodge and Backpackers; an unpretentious and pleasant hostel. We’d reserved a private queen-bed room; the shared toilet and shower were across the hall.
After checking in, we walked to a nearby restaurant (https://www.scoozi.co.nz/) that turned out to have pretty good wood-fired pizza, along with some nice local beers and wines.
We didn’t linger, though: Our plan was to catch the next morning’s Intercity Bus to Christchurch, so we could sightsee along its 4.5 hour route down the scenic east coast of the South Island.
Anticipating a yawn worthy dawn start the next day, we turned in early.
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Great post 😁