Cook Strait Ferry

Our time on the North Island has come to an end – for a couple of weeks at least.

Today we took the Cook Strait Ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island). It was a rather bizarre and tiny ferry terminal, tucked away and barely signposted off the main road, but we found it ok.

Although the distance between the two islands on a map looks about 15 miles, the journey takes three and a half hours because the ferry has to pick its way through and around various islands and bays to get to Picton.

I guess, what else can you say about a car ferry ride?! We had lunch onboard, and it was again delicious (we’ve hardly had a duff meal in NZ), with the most incredible chips. The seats were comfy... the only problem was there was no way to get a good view looking forward, but that’s fairly standard on a ferry.

Here are some of our first views of the South Island. You can see some of the many bays, lots of which had a single house, accessible only by boat. What bliss to stay there for a few days, completely undisturbed – apart from a dozen ferries steaming past every day.