Good-bye New Zealand!

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Sat. 4th. Mar.
Our last bus journey in New Zealand is a short one to Picton. This time round we have a nice ensuite room at The Sequoia Lodge. Just time to off-load our bags from the pick-up and head down to the harbour for a trip on The Mail Boat. This is a catamoran that delivers groceries, mail, etc. to the outlying homesteads within Queen Charlotte Sound. The trip lasts about 4 hours and, in our case, made about 6 deliveries. The best bit, besides the scenery, was watching the people come down to the jetty for their mail, mostly accompanied by a dog, who was then given a treat by our captain. When we docked back at Picton, Jim was practically siezed up with the cold. Bali can't come quick enough to warm us up!

Sun. 5th.
We had a pleasant stroll around Picton in the sunshine, and then (don't we ever learn), a hike to Bob's Bay. There were some great views of the harbour. We stood and watched the Inter-Islander docking, which is the ferry we'll be catching tomorrow. The Friday night crossing was horrendous, apparently. Instead of taking the usual 4 hours to cross Cook Strait, the bad sea conditions made it more like 8! There were many cars damaged and lots of injured people. That particular ship is now out of commission, making the timetable useless. Back to the hostel, and we sit talking to a lady from Winchester who's going to pop into the Master of The Rolls in Romsey, to see Sarah, and another girl from Pensby... Small World.

Mon. 6th.
We are deposited at the ferry terminal, only to discover that our sailing is delayed by 2 hours, so we sit on the promenade, people watching. We go back at the allocated time, only to find utter chaos. The people disembarking have to fight their way through the crowds waiting to board. Then we are herded like sheep!!!.. through a small door onto the ship. Luckily, the crossing was smoothe, and the ship itself was very comfortable. Arriving in Wellington, it took ages to disembark, and then we had to walk across the docks in freezing cold to collect our luggage. That passed a couple of hours! We thought things could get no worse, until we got to our BBH hostel. It's called Rosemere Backpackers, and it was discusting. They can't have environmental health here or it would be closed down. It was too late to find anywhere else, so we went out to eat half expecting to get food poisoning after a day like today.

Tues. 7th.
We leave our back packs and head off to the i-Site to get better accommodation. Just over the road from them is the Nomad backpackers, and it's a world removed from the other place! For $10 more than we paid last night we have a beautiful ensuite room. When we went back to collect our bags, we left fliers around for the kids so hopefully they will de-camp and stay some place clean. Not much inclination for sight-seeing but we have been told not to miss the Te Papa Museum. It's a very modern building, but we didn't stay long, and moved on to a tour of the parliament buildings. The M.P.'s are on holiday this week (Gone to Bali?), but it was still a very interesting guided tour. They made an extention to it a few years back and the original floor tiles were still in stock at the factory in Stoke-on-Trent. Bet the price had gone up.

Wed. 8th.
We pick our hire car up this afternoon, so we've just time to take the cable car up the hill to the botanic gardens. No garden, but the view was good, and then onto Old St. Paul's Church. The building we find first is the new cathedral, which was soul less, but around the corner was the original building of St. Paul's, and it was a gem. Constructed of wood, with beautiful stained glass windows, much more character. I'm almost getting blown off my feet, so it's a relief to get the back packs on and head for Avis. The heavens open again so it was another 2 or 3 hours into our journey before the scenery of the National Park became visible. Nice open road and pleasant views, and our overnight stop at Howard's Lodge was perfect.

Thurs. 9th.
The weather is atrocious. How the kids can tramp in this is beyond us. One girl was running short of funds because the $17 per night mountain hut fees had gone up to $40. Bare in mind that these places are very basic, and they share a dorm with up to 40 peolple. That's NZ for you. When the weather clears and the temperature rises from 8 deg. to 20, the scenery improves dramatically. This area is where a lot of Lord of The Rings was filmed. Spectacular stuff, and set off by the pampas grass and heather growing by the roadside. We thoroughly enjoyed this journey, but then we arrive in Hamilton and have trouble finding accommodation. Eventually, we find a family suite in a motel, and so we settle down to re-pack the bags, ready for the flight to Oz. We hope we haven't put you off New Zealand, but it just didn't do much for us. May be, when the recession comes and the tourists are no longer taken for a ride, will be the time to visit.
If it's raining in Bali, we just might come back.....

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