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Published: June 12th 2006
In the Edwin Fox
At the bottom level - cargo and steerageDay 13: Picton
We have had a rest day today - no travelling, and the only activity a long walk around the harbourside. Picton is the terminus for the inter-island ferry and a recreational boating centre, and not much else. At this time of year the boating is quiet, so the town is too.
There’s an excellent small museum and dry dock housing the Edwin Fox, described as the 9th oldest ship in the world - surprising, considering it was built in 1853. The ship itself has been preserved rather than restored, and has left seaworthiness far behind, but is a fascinating relic that one is permitted to wander in and around relatively freely. The vessel had a varied history, as a trading vessel all over the world, convict ship, troop transport to the Crimea, frozen meat transport and coal hulk. Fascinating - we spent an hour there.
Another boat in the harbour, over 100 years old, is presently housing a little bar and café. We had a late lunch there, then returned to the motel to catch some early sleep before we arise at 4.30 in the morning to catch the first ferry to Wellington. The motel
Picton harbour, afternoon
InterIslander ferry at left is the noisiest we’ve stayed at, not only from outside, but from the other side of thin walls, so sleep is at a premium.
Weather continues glorious, and that’s expected to maintain for another couple of days. The sun here goes about its task a bit more seriously here than down in the south-west. There, it would slope up late from behind the mountains, take a brief and desultory look around and then head immediately for dark comfort in the north-west. Today we got several hours of proper warming rays in the middle of the day, and found them very welcome.
Andrew
Day 14: Picton-Wellington
Having set the mobile phone and clock and asked for a wake-up call at the motel, there was no way we were going to sleep past the 4.30am wake-up time. We simply parked the car at the terminal entrance and left it, keys in it and all! The ship left at 5.45am on a very calm sea (good!). By 7.00am, when the sun rose, we were well out in the Cook Strait and watching the World Cup match between Poland and Costa Rica. The journey continued calm, and after docking
at Wellington we found our car right outside the terminal. Our new car is a ‘reincarnation’ (Andrew wanted that!) of our previous dark blue Corolla, just a newer model.
We arrived at 9.00am, and navigating around Wellington was not hard, so why did it take 15 minutes to get to our hotel? Just one-way streets with mainly very steep, narrow roads. This city reminded us of a small version of Sydney. We stayed at a very fancy hotel, the Bolton, at a throwaway price found through wotif.co.nz. Here is a lifestyle I could get used to!
We went for a shop around the retail area, and luckily I didn’t find anything I liked, since I couldn’t find a normal chain clothing store, and only visited hugely expensive up-market stores, one of which had a top-hatted doorman. Andrew was impressed that there were often seats for long-suffering companions and in one store a newspaper was also provided.
The Te Papa museum was as advertised - one of the great museums of the world, very modern with a heap of different galleries. Displays on Maori culture and early settlement were well worth seeing. Unfortunately, we would have also seen
the exhibition of Lord of the Rings costumes, models, planning pictures and props had one of us not forgotten his wallet. However, we did get there on Sunday. A fantastic exhibition, where we happily spent 90 minutes marvelling at the incredible detail of all the magnificent costumes, props and miniatures. The amount of work involved in the whole production must have been huge.
The highlight besides Te Papa museum was undoubtedly the restaurant ‘Café Bastille’, another terrific recommendation from Lonely Planet. This very small and ‘won’t take bookings’ restaurant was tucked away in a foodie area near the University. We had authentic, superb French food and wine, and great service.
Day 15: Wellington-Napier
On Sunday, after an invigorating bike ride and swim in the hotel gym (only one of us), we hit the road again, driving for four hours from Wellington to Hastings and at last to Napier. Both these cities were drastically hit by an earthquake in the early 1930s, so we are looking forward to visiting the earthquake centre on Monday. Because of the timing of the destruction, both cities were substantially rebuilt in the Art Deco style.
We are also very impressed
with the weather that we didn’t get in the South Island. Today there has been 300 mm of rain, rockfalls and much snow. Several roads that we traversed only a few days ago are closed. We are certainly glad that we managed to miss all that, as well as the mini-hurricane and freezing weather, and that (although we carried them and did encounter some minor snow flurries) we didn’t have to use the snow chains.
The North island has many more nice straight roads, no alpine passes (so far) and more maniac drivers who whoosh by us at amazing speeds; what struck us has been a conspicuous absence of police until today. The weather is noticeably mild, with only three layers of clothing required.
Helen
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Lachlan
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The Day My Ears Turned Into Aardvarks
Sorry, but the box asked me to enter a "title" for my coment, and I couldn't resist. I haven't left a comment thus far, and the 15mins until the World Cup match begins is killing me! I assume you're in bed, unless you've found a pub somewhere. I reckon we'll go alright as long as they keep Viduka away from the penalty spot. Les Murray is stoked, the stage is set, GO THE 'ROOS! I'll call you tomorrow with a heavy or a happy heart. P.S. Nice pic of the Picton Harbour!