Roam Relax Repeat

March 01, 2020

Tuesday Feb 25

Travel day to Wellington, stopped along the way for coffee multiple times starting in Napier.

Arrived at the Top 10 campsite in Wellington – tired after long drive, walked to local grocery store and acquire provisions to make a delicious taco bowl supper that Lydia conceived of and concocted. Ended up securing a powered campsite to make sure we didn’t have to fight for a spot in the general admission section. Went to the common room to try to update the blog but there were no power outlets for our computer, so abandoned that idea and went to bed.

Wednesday Feb 26

Day on the town in Wellington. After breakfast and a short run by Lydia, we set off for downtown Wellington. To avoid parking hassles, we opted for public transit and jumped on the bus at the round-about right outside the campground where one bus took us right to the center of Wellington. The city has a fantastic deep-water port due to it being surrounded by mountains and a lot of the residential part of Wellington is built on some very steep hills, much like San Francisco. It would have been fun to take a drive through some neighbourhoods above the city, there are many beautiful homes which must have stunning views of the city and harbour below, but alas, we were walking so we let that idea go. We did have several interesting places to visit on our list, so we decided to start on higher ground at the botanical gardens and work our way down. There is no better way to get above the city than to take the cable car, so we hopped aboard and took the easy way up. The botanical gardens are both extensive and impressive. The gardens are on a huge property on the top and side of one of the hills above the city, nothing is flat, you’re either walking up or walking down. The gardens host a stunning variety of trees, flowers and plants and you could spend the whole day exploring the gardens. We spent an enjoyable couple of hours and slowly worked our way down and back into the city to a section of the waterfront which has been tastefully revitalized. We enjoyed walking around this pedestrian friendly area full of shops, restaurants, museums and of course, coffee shops. After a mandatory coffee break, we took in the free Wellington Museum, very interesting. One of the exhibits provided a year by year profile of the city from 1900 to the present day which took some time to go through but really gave us a good sense of how Wellington evolved as a city. Wellington and New Zealand in general went through a lot of the same growing pains as Canada did as it slowly developed from being a British colony into an independent country.

After the museum there was a portrait gallery which we breezed through. It was such a beautiful day, very little wind and lots of warm sunshine, so we just enjoyed walking the quay, taking in the sites along the waterfront. Eventually the afternoon wound down and we decided to make our way back to camp, so we rode the bus back and that was a wrap for our day in Wellington. We did a provisions run, enjoyed another home cooked meal and spent some time reading as the daylight faded to black (and the stars took over).

Thursday Feb 27

Ferry Day. Today we make our way to the South Island leaving Wellington at 1:30 pm, although you need to check in at the terminal by 12:30. We packed up after breakfast and decided to go for a coffee in the Patone neighborhood near our campsite, it has quite a strip of restaurants and shops. The traffic along the waterfront was horrendous and we slowly made our way to our first stop of the day…actually the second stop, the first being a stop instigated by a police officer! In my search for a coffee shop I neglected to stop at a crosswalk with someone waiting…although I was going quite slow with the traffic and all. He was very nice and gave me a friendly warning and even suggested a coffee shop! After our break we headed for the ferry terminal as the traffic was still terrible – but we arrived 45 minutes early, so we parked in the designated ferry queue and stretched our legs with a last look at the Wellington waterfront until it was boarding time.

The Cook Strait crossing to the South Island takes 3.5 hours. The South Island is not that far away but just getting out of the extensive Wellington harbour takes about an hour. Anyway, we enjoyed the crossing, it was very windy but smooth sailing. Venturing to the outside upper decks was super windy, so we didn’t lounge around in deck chairs too much. The last leg of the trip took us through the Marlborough Sound which was amazing, lovely narrow channels between the islands and peninsulas leading up to Picton, our destination.

By the time we arrived it was close to 5 pm, so we stocked up at the grocery store and headed out of town to a campsite at Momorangi Bay where we will stay for 2 nights.

Friday Feb 28

Very close to our campsite, is a popular track called the Queen Charlotte track. It’s a little over 70 km long and most people take 4 days to hike it. There are small towns along the path which offer accommodations for trampers. We opted to do a short day hike and drove to a trail-head near the small hamlet of Te Mahai. The trail is well marked and we decided to hike up to a lookout that is a side trail to the main track. The day was perfect for hiking, sunny with cloudy periods and not too hot. At the summit we were rewarded with a great 360 degree view of the Marlborough sound area and even saw one of the ferries making its way to Picton. We also did a short loop hike out to the end of a peninsula which was nice – but there were too many cicadas – almost deafening…and they occasionally bounced off us as we walked along.

After the hike we returned to Picton for some provisions and propane gas for the camp stove and then headed back to camp for a pleasant evening by the seaside. Note: we were awoken in the night by the sound of rain on the roof and the sound of one very loud cicada which Lydia said was in the van. I said how could a cicada get in the van??? I suggested we close the windows to dampen the sound and prove the cicada was outside….which we did, but the cicada was just as loud, hmm. Eventually it calmed down and I went back to sleep. In the morning we found a dead cicada on the floor in the front of the van – so I was all wrong about the cicada (and Lydia was right)!