« October 12, 2009 - Wellington, New Zealand | Main | October 14-15, 2009 - Nelson to Greymouth »
October 13, 2009 - Wellington by Ferry to Picton to Nelson
Today was a fun day. We got up early and headed to the Ferry Terminal. We needed to be ready to board at 7:40 a.m. and we were all good to go by 7 or so. The Interislander is the ferry we rode on and it was huge! There were 10 decks. There was a playground (think big McDonald's playground) on the second deck, along with two movie cinemas and a cafe. Cars, trucks, RVs, were parked on decks 3 and 5. On deck 7, there was a family room with a couple of tv screens (one news, one cartoons), some video games and a few toys, plus plenty of seating and big windows for looking out, a cafe, a reclining room (chairs like you would see on an airplane, but nicer), and a small store. Then on Deck 8, there was another reclining lounge, a food court, and a restaurant. On deck 9 there were passenger cabins. On Deck 10 there was an observation/sun deck. Quite nice! I had never been on such a large ship before. It was really cool and the three hours flew by!
We landed in Picton and picked up a new rental car and had lunch at the Dog and Frog (no kidding!). The food was great!. Picton is a quaint little seaside town and it looked a lot like Mayberry. Only about 12,000 inhabitants. The water was so beautiful - it was turquoise.
Here is a picture or two.
After lunch in Picton, we took the scenic route to Nelson over a very crooked mountain road, with amazing views!!!
We arrived in Nelson at the Airport Greens Motel. We were met by a lovely lady and her baby. She and her hubby were running the motel while her parents were on holiday. It was one of the most reasonably priced places we have stayed at on the whole trip and they were so very friendly. They made us feel like they were really glad we were there.
While we have been here, there has been a story evolving over a missing two year old girl. They found her in a drain pipe where she apparently got into and drowned. Very sad and our hearts go out to the family.
