Waking up to a rather rainy & dreary morning in Wellington, I walked across the street from my hostel to the rail station… visited the little espresso kiosk… and then shuttled over to the InterIslander Ferry Terminal. This ferry was unbelievable!... multiple stories with all sorts of lounges, cafes, kids playgrounds, side-decks and a roof deck. The 3-hour cruise across Cook Straight and through the Queen Charlotte Sound was gorgeous. Standing outside for most of the last hour, the chill of the cool air was unable to filter through me, as I was filled with the peace and beauty of the feet of the mountains lining the sound, along with the multiple inlets that we passed along the way. I found out that the ferry ride used to be 2hrs, but was causing too much of a wake that led to environmental destruction and neighbor disturbance within the sound, so they’ve now retuned to a more enjoyable pace… which I think makes everyone happy! (definitely allows for an extra hour of camera-filling fun!)
Arriving into Picton with a few of the guys I traveled with from Rotorua to Taupo and onto Wellington with, we awaited our Magic bus… and that’s when we met Rachael, our super-friendly, and very energetic driver. Eric, my driver for the two prior journeys on the North Island had mentioned the previous night that I needed to meet Rachael on the South Island, as we’re into all of the same things… wouldn’t you know it – she was the first person I met! I love how things work like that!
We made a stop at Pelorus – 1 hour into our trip - and had a chance to hang out at a beautiful swimming hole (clear-blue waters lined by great rock groupings to jump off of!)… nobody would be swimming this day – way too chilly for human skin!
The remainder of the trip seemed to be far too short – I think this may be in part to Rachael & I enjoying non-stop conversation.
Arriving into Picton with a few of the guys I traveled with from Rotorua to Taupo and onto Wellington with, we awaited our Magic bus… and that’s when we met Rachael, our super-friendly, and very energetic driver. Eric, my driver for the two prior journeys on the North Island had mentioned the previous night that I needed to meet Rachael on the South Island, as we’re into all of the same things… wouldn’t you know it – she was the first person I met! I love how things work like that!
We made a stop at Pelorus – 1 hour into our trip - and had a chance to hang out at a beautiful swimming hole (clear-blue waters lined by great rock groupings to jump off of!)… nobody would be swimming this day – way too chilly for human skin!
The remainder of the trip seemed to be far too short – I think this may be in part to Rachael & I enjoying non-stop conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment