06/01/2018 - Arrival on the South Island of New Zealand

The crossing to the South Island was due. We used the previous day to stock up on groceries and reload our car. The remnants of the tropical storm have now caused significant damage to the North Island. In the blog post 'Bike Tour Through New Zealand', we reported on State Highway 25 between Thames and Coromandel Town - this no longer exists since the storm. The road was undermined and destroyed by the high tidal waves, so it will take some time for this beautiful stretch to be restored. Several roads in Auckland were also flooded. We hardly noticed anything about it in Wellington, in the southern part of the North Island. But on the eve of the crossing, it became noticeably stormier and continuous rain set in.

The day of departure had come - the alarm clock was set at 4:15 a.m. Check-in was scheduled for 5:45 a.m. When we had our breakfast ready for the journey, our car was packed again, the dreaded message arrived: our ferry was canceled due to the bad weather and the departure was postponed to 8:30 a.m. We took it easy, what else could we do? So we took off our rain jackets again and made ourselves comfortable on the bed. Around 7:00 a.m., it got serious, we drove to the ferry terminal. Because the passengers from two ferries were thrown together, there was a lively chaos at the counter. After about 45 minutes of waiting, our car was safely parked on the outside deck. After unsuccessfully looking for a seat on the normal visitor decks, we luckily found two seats in a kind of conservatory at the back of the ship. The ferry was fully booked. Everywhere people sat with their backpacks on the floor because there simply weren't enough seats for everyone.
Before we boarded the ferry, the lady at the car check-in joked that we should be prepared for a fun ride. We are not particularly sensitive, but we had not yet experienced real seasickness. The exit from Wellington went very relaxed. But for a few cars, the rough seas were already too much, which is why there was a loud honking concert. As the Interislander ferry slowly reached the open sea, we got a feel for how the crossing would go. With each wave, the ship lifted its stern, causing not only the chairs to slide back and forth regularly. We gradually reached the most critical part of the crossing - the "Cook Strait". It is one of the stormiest sea lanes in the world. We did not understand much of the captain's speech, but his last words were: "It's Showtime!".
This New Zealand humor - we found it funny, the people around us not so much. The entire crossing between the islands normally takes three hours, but it can vary greatly depending on the weather. Tobi found a YouTube video in which the crossing took a whole eight hours due to the weather ... The waves got higher and higher, so the cars on the outside deck got wet again and again. From our seats, we had a perfect view of it all and even saw our Sam. He was very brave! :)
The crew was visibly overwhelmed trying to provide people with sick bags and ice cubes. We learned on the side that ice cubes are used to cool down the circulation. After about two hours of driving, we could finally see the longed-for destination - the South Island of New Zealand. Giant green mountains welcomed us and the weather suddenly improved. When we entered the fjord, the sea was completely different. There were no more waves in the protected waters. With the relaxation of the water and the blue sky, some calm returned to the ship. Almost everyone enjoyed the entrance and marveled at this beautiful landscape. It was exactly three hours when we finally made it. Welcome to the South Island, welcome to Picton!
The day of arrival was then relatively relaxed. We visited a lookout near the harbor and took a nap in the car after all the excitement - we woke up again around 6:00 p.m. But not much happened, we cooked ourselves dinner and planned our further route.

The next morning, our path led us to a Farmers Market in the neighboring city of Picton. Here we had a delicious sandwich for breakfast and all sorts of fruits. The fruit farmers sell their fruit here for a bargain price - and when everything is sold, they go home. Loaded with all sorts of goodies from the market, we headed to a somewhat remote region. As mentioned before, the northern part of the South Island consists mostly of fjords. The sea winds its way between large mountains everywhere. That day we took several hikes to different viewpoints. One of them was particularly beautiful. We dragged ourselves up the mountain for about 45 minutes - to the 'Onahau Lookout'. From here, we had a great view of the various fjords and could even watch the ferry when it was leaving. The colors of the water and the mountains looked amazing. The path then led us through remote roads and great scenery back to the campground. We are already impressed by the nature of the South Island!