Day 18 - Crossing to the North Island - Lazy Day

Today it will be difficult to get you off the couch, and not just because everyone is still recovering from New Year's Eve, but because our day was rather uneventful. We had to leave early as we had to drop off the car at the ferry terminal in Picton by noon. Before that, we had over 200 km of driving ahead of us.

New Zealand was particularly quiet today, with most shops and restaurants closed, and only a lot of joggers and walkers out and about, apparently already putting their New Year's resolutions into action. The drive from Nelson to Picton took us through mountains with very curvy roads. Later, we passed through New Zealand's most famous wine-growing region, and I recognized some of the wineries we drove past because of my love for Sauvignon Blanc.

After dropping off the car and checking in our luggage, we had some time left and took a rather uninspired stroll around Picton, which didn't really impress us either. By the way, it looked prettier from the sea than when you were in the middle of it.

The funniest sight today was probably the moped jet boat we saw moored in the harbor, and I believe it would be difficult to impress anyone with that.

On the ferry, we quickly booked two reclining seats. Smart decision, because after the many intense days on the South Island, we were both exhausted and dozed off a bit during the crossing, which started on time. Marlborough Sound was beautiful, but we still had to motivate ourselves to go up on deck to take photos. I don't know how many liters of diet cola I drank today just to get going. Although you might rather call it a little kick.

The journey lasted 3:15, and after exiting the stabilizers, there was little sign of the announced winds. It was more of a pleasant rocking... yawn. Then we picked up a new car, drove to the hotel, were excited about the mega-cool hotel - all the art pictures are from the lobby or in front of the hotel -, did some sports and went out for dinner. By chance, we discovered "The old Quarter" and fought for a seat. We had to wait another 30 minutes and then wandered around the city a bit: interesting. Many Asians, many sex shops, many small pubs and restaurants, and almost everything closed because of New Year. The food was amazing... a cross-Asian cuisine. Bao Buns and summer rolls and curry...

Tomorrow will be more fun... promise... at least if I can convince Norman to go to "Alice in Wonderland".

PS: we are now Chernobyl experts: watched the series (very very good), read Wikipedia, and listened to a podcast about it.