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So we got an early start from Marahau, to get to Picton intime for the morning Ferry over the waters to the North Island. Only but we miscalculated the time it would take to get there, and it did indeed take us an additional hour and a bit to get to Picton.
It was a picturesque drive though, Driving at the crack of dawn, seeing all the illegally camped campervans making a run for it, and then more silly roads bending back and forth! For the final 25km we drove on Queen Charlote Drive - this is around the Malborough Sound area, through little ports with parked boats and little shanty towns... then eventually ( and late) Picton came into view!!
We bought our tickets and went for a subway brunch! Then to kill time, did our food shop in the town centre, Suprisingly, Picton is a nice little fishing village, it reminded me abit of Bridlington or Scarborough, but not as depressing!!! We were told we would be able to board the boat 1 hour before we were due to set sail. So we went to check in, and was told the Boat was running late, by approx 45 minutes, but we proceeded to check in and get in line!
1 Hour later, we were boiling in the front cab of our van!! So we decided to get a brew on, and a change of clothes!! You can never determine the weather in New Zealand, you can really see all 4 seasons in one day!! We were dressed in our trousers, T shirts and jumpers, but we were sat in the swealterng heat so we got our shorts and t shirts on!! The boat was over 1 hour late in the end, and we must have lost about 2 stone in weight between us, just from sweating!!! (sorry!)
What seemed like hours later, we were able to move about 50 feet before waiting in the queue again! Then another hour or so later we drove onto the boat!! The ferry crossing from Picton (South island) to Wellington (North Island) took us 3 hours, and we arrived just intime to meet the rush hour traffic!!
After a fustrating day of standing around, waiting!! we decided to just press on and get out of Wellington and drive up the coast a little bit, so we drove for about 40 minutes out of Wellington and came to a camp site in the weird and wonderful town of: PARAPARAUMU.
It was well scary - everything looked all shut up when we arrived, so I went to knock on the 'Managers door' and an elderly lady answered the door, and seemed shocked that i'd knocked on her door - and even more shocked when I asked if they had room for the night!?! To cut a long story short, they did have room and we parked up and ate dinner and as there wasnt anythign else to do we watched a movie and went to bed!!
The next morning we woke up, pulled back the curtains and it looked like we were in the middle of a housing estate in a trailer park!! All the caravans around us had little white fences, so obviously lived there. It was a caravan graveyard! The caravans were mostly all rusty and patched up with cardboard. But one huge coach was parked up, they must have lived there, as they had a little patio with garden furniture, but this coach was extraordinary! It was HUGE! it had a washing machine, satelite television, telephone connection - the lot! It was caravan heaven! We were really impressed with it - until we realised it was their home, and not their holiday home!! Not so amazing!
We put foot to metal, and left the dump behind us, and drove the distance to Lake Taupo where we are now.
The journey was much more enjoyable - and more straight!! As we came into view of Lake Taupo we thought we were nearly there, but the lake is HUGE! so we passed through heaps of towns and past loads of Black swans on the lake before eventually arriving in Lake Taupo. We booked into our camp site, then went out to explore what Lake Taupo has to offer.
From what ive noticed so far, The South Island is much more unspoilt, and more picturesque, and the North island is way more populated. My favourite is the South - At the moment!
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