#1371 Wellington To Blenheim: Interislander Ferry To South Island, Sunset Sailing, Kaipupu Point

On the morning of day 10

we left the capital gateway campervan park and headed back in to the middle of the city

it was a beautiful day

the perfect day to cross the Cook Straight

we stopped and a quick look at the New Zealand Parliament buildings

the Prime Ministers office is inside a building called the Beehive

this is a statue of a guy called Richard Seddon who was the Prime Minister ages ago and this is me

we drove around the waterfront to visit a friend in Lyall Bay

we thought about having lunch at this café as someone recommended it to me and it looked really cool

but there was a big queue and we had to catch the ferry

maybe next time

we made it to the ferry just before the final check-in time

and then spent about an hour in a queue

it was very nice being in a motorhome in the queue

we had a bathroom and filtered water

this is our ferry arriving in Wellington

the inter-island has three passenger ferries

we went on the Awatere

apparently this ship was built in Spain in 1998

and can carry three hundred and sixty passengers

we left the sprinter(name of motorhome) to go to the passenger decks

then remembered the handbrake(car) wasn't on so we went back to sort that out

and then went upstairs and started exploring our ship

I bought a postcard and picked up some maps

I tried out the sick bags

and followed the instructions on the seat

I avoided the gangway that sounded dodgy

I wrote the postcard and sent it to Germany

and I made a souvenir from a ten cent coin

sadly the photo picture machine was out of order

but the machine next to it worked and I put 2 dollars into it and I got a Hello Kitty Cater strap "awesome"

though I would have preferred surfing kitty

when I had run out of things to do I filled in a feedback form

and told them how I was as a bit disappointed not to get surfing kitty

this is Te Wai Pounamu (Maori name) for the South Island of New Zealand

and this is Picton

we went to the information centre in Picton and bought another postcard

and sent it to Mexico

in the evening we were lucky enough to be taken out on a boat

for dinner and a sunset cruise

we sailed around a place called Kaipupu Point Scenic Reserve

in 2008 this special fence was built around the point

to keep out animals like cats, possums and rats

so that native plants and birds would be able to thrive here

before dinner I took the dingy out for a bit of a spin

it was so peaceful out here in the Ocean