Alarm went at 4.45 am, ignored again. While Henry and Mark milked, Julie and I packed the car (this was their old car, fully serviced ready for our trip) and Julie gave us useful things e.g. water bottles and sleeping bags.
We set off in brilliant sunshine, first stop stunning Kaikoura, mountains in the background with the seashore in front of you. Stopped for coffee, Henry had a 15 minute nap in the car, I took photographs.
Within a few minutes we could see the temperature gauge was sky high! Fortunately the local garage was in sight, and a very helpful man examined the overheated engine. It was a problem which could take time to fix. Time was not on our side with a ferry to catch in two hours, plus we needed a car. The only car hire in Kaikoura just happened to be opposite the garage. A snap decision was needed and Henry did a very quick deal, car hire for the next 16 days. Hey, beggars can't be choosers and we ended up with a Nissan (that's what it said on the key ring) with 156,000 km on the clock, a tape deck so the newly acquired CDs were redundant and to get efficient air conditioning your best option was to wind the windows down! Before we left we were hastily given oil and water which we were advised to check daily. Any advantages? Would you steal an old black Nissan?
We were feeling positive, but not positive enough to make the 5.00 pm boarding deadline. We had to phone the ferry company by 4.00 pm to rebook the next ferry otherwise you lose your money. Julie had kindly lent us her mobile and at this precise moment the battery died. We used Henry's UK phone. The job done we relaxed on our way to Picton. (Our new time was 10.25 departure arriving in Wellington at 1.25am)
We arrived in Picton at 5.30 pm just 30 mins after the deadline. It was a beautiful day so we thought we would watch our ferry leaving at 6.00pm, it was really frustrating to see it set off 50 minutes late! The view of the famous Marlborough Sounds would have to wait.
Ate fish and chips watching the sun go down, then queued for the ferry, this time we were head of the queue, we weren't missing this one.
Once on board, Nicola decided to bag one of the four couches on the ferry and sleep. At this point Henry bumped into Fergus and Paddy who he'd met two nights previously at the Rakia Squash Club! He spent 3 hours putting the world to rights whilst they drank a bottle of red wine each. The story goes that they had set off from Christchurch at 5.00 pm and drove the 427 km to Picton in 4 hours (you do the Maths). They left the car in Picton and were the last foot passengers to board. The reason for visiting Wellington, to see Paddy's cousin who was boarding at the hospital recovering from pneumonia.
Henry offered the boys a lift when sober and then gave 2 very drunk Irish men a lift into town who were on a mission to find the nearest Irish bar, personally they would have been better joining their cousin!
It was a good job Henry didn't join in the celebrations as he was stopped by local police for a random breath test shortly after dropping Paddy and Fergus in town. We arrived at our accommodation at 3.00 am, what a day!