Day 18 February 19th Wellington to Picton (South Island)

cable car

WW1 captured gun

Victorian observatory

It dawned another damp and blustery day but the forecast was for improving weather which we looked forward to as we were crossing to the South Island on a ferry later in the day.  After breakfast the weather had cleared and we decided to head for the botanical gardens which could be reached by a cable car which started near our hotel.  At the top of the cable car ride we had a very good view of the city and harbour.  There was a museum giving the history of the cable car and 2 observatories, of which the Victorian (early) one had by far the best building.  The gardens were mainly mature trees with few flowers and so not much colour to show.  There was also a gun emplacement for protecting the city and harbour which had a captured German WW1 gun in position. 


the cake tin

We had a snack at the cafe and returned to the hotel because the check-in for the next stage of our journey was 2pm at the ferry terminal.  We collected the luggage and the taxi took us to the harbour.  We then had a shock as we were told the ferry was delayed by an hour which turned out to be nearly two hours.  We had seats in the terminal building and the time soon went and eventually we sailed.  We went on deck and took a picture of the stadium called the "cake tin" by the locals and you can see why.  The channel was quite narrow coming out of the harbour with rocks either side.   We also noticed  how many planes flew in and out of the airport for such a small place.  We came to the end of the wind protected "gulf" and to the lighthouses which signify we were now in the Cook Straight.  We were becoming cold and so found some seats inside for the rest of the journey.

plane flying over choppy sea

 We docked just before 8pm and found some transport to take us to our motel.  We went to a local supermarket for breakfast supplies and then settled in our room for the first night on South Island.