Into North Island

Into North Island

The following day was a public holiday – Waitangi Day, celebrating the treaty of Waitangi, which founded NZ – so we decided to have a day off too.  The most energetic thing we did was to book a morning crossing to Wellington!

Next day we were up before sunrise to complete the 60km to the Interislander Ferry terminal at Picton.  We were saying goodbye not only to South Island but also State Highway 6, which we’d travelled from one end to the other.

They load trucks onto the ferry first, then trailers and then motorhomes, so we were on quite early and grabbed a spot in the lounge at the pointy end of the boat so that we had a good view.  We’d been told that the first hour and last hour are through quite spectacular scenery.  They might well be, but we couldn’t see very much at all due to the low cloud/mist covering everything taller than the 7 dwarves!

At the beginning we seemed to have a series of coves on either side of the boat, and the water was very calm.  However, after the first hour the land disappeared and the water was not so calm.  At least not for Diane and me, as neither of us is very good on the water.  I coped by burying my head in a book and Diane coped by staring at the horizon.

About 2.5 hours in and there were vague shapes in the mist ahead.  Then suddenly we were in Fitzroy Bay and approaching Wellington Harbour.  As we neared the dock, there was an announcement on the PA, but we couldn’t hear a thing because they chose exactly that moment to reverse the engines to slow the boat down!  However, the lounges started emptying out, so we assumed it was about going back to the cars and we followed everybody else.

Fortunately we didn’t have to follow them for long; our lane was first to move when we docked and we were the fifth vehicle off.

After a quick grocery stop at Hutt City Pak ‘n Save, we made for Te Marua, to a campsite recommended by the owners of our previous site.  It is a bit of a trek from Wellington, but there doesn’t appear to be a decent campsite in or near the city.  This place is lovely, with plenty of space, very few people and great facilities.

Tomorrow we’ll explore Wellington.