Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We left Top Spot at 9am and started the journey back up north, with Poncey my driver once again as he was to be for my last few days on the Kiwi bus! For me I was going to be retracing my tracks, as the next three stops (Wellington, Taupo and Auckland) I had already been to, so it was effectively the end of my Kiwi adventure in Kaikoura as this was the last place I stayed that I hadn't already been to. The drive northwards took in the dramatic Kaikoura coastline for the final time, but just before we left the coast we pulled over in Kekerengu at a cafe for breakfast, it was also a cool location as it was right on the beach which we could explore, or for the less adventurous of us on the bus there was a deck that overlooked the beach which we could chill out on, this was our last chance to see the ocean vistas.
After a half hour stop at the cafe we were back on the road again to ensure that we were on time for making our ferry departure later that day, we passed Lake Grassmere where there was a large salt works plant, before we carried on driving until we reached Blenheim, the principle centre of Marlborough, a region that is a prominent wine producing region because of the ideal weather conditions. Blenheim was the last major point of call before we reached Picton, a quaint little town settled at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound, where we caught the ferry. We arrived at the Picton ferry terminal just before 1pm, and after receiving our ferry ticket from Poncey we all checked in our luggage and had a short wait in the waiting area before we were called onto board at around 1.30pm and after finding myself a seat at the front of the ferry with a decent view out of the window I settled down in the rather comfy seats to crack out a few travel blogs!
After saying farewell to the South Island which I thoroughly enjoyed, the ferry departed the terminal to embark on the 3 hour crossing to the north island, the weather was atrocious however, with rain gushing down on the ferry throughout the whole trip causing fierce, choppy conditions in the water, but despite these poor conditions the ferry seemed unaffected and it was actually a fairly smooth crossing with only the odd bumpy moment. The three hours flew by as I was engrossed in my blog writing and before I knew it we were departing the ferry and collecting our luggage from the airport styled baggage claim area in the terminal, by this stage it was about 5.15pm and so was starting to get dark particularly early this day because of the bad weather conditions that day, from the terminal we made the short walk to our new Kiwi bus which was waiting for us in the car park, it was noticeable straight away during the walk to the bus that we had arrived in Wellington because of the sheer gale force winds that were blowing around the city which Wellington is renowned for making it bitterly cold and noticeably colder than the previous time I had been here.
We made the short 10 minute drive from the ferry terminal to Base backpackers where we were staying that night, and got a guided tour of the city from Poncey, he was pointing out all the sights of interest to the bus which I had already been to so was only vaguely interested in what he had to say especially as it was Poncey that I drove into Wellington with previously meaning I heard the same jokes about the city for the second time, which made me realise that I couldn't wait to get back to Auckland to fly out as I was seeing the same stuff again which was good the first time but the novelty wore off after seeing it again, especially knowing I was so close to getting to Fiji!
Once we arrived at Base there was a huge queue at the desk as we all set about checking in, and as ever the staff moved at snail's pace which meant it took longer than it should have done to get us booked into a room. Incidentally I was put in a room with 5 girls, so some would say it was worth the wait, and it was as if I wasn't even in the room as they chatted about loads of girly things which made for a few uncomfortable moments; however it was quite a laugh listening to girly gossip and talk. I headed straight to the supermarket not long after checking in as usual to get my daily essentials, and then made the very windy and chilly walk back to the hostel to make my dinner (pasta and sauce) which was rather different to the curry that was made for me the previous time I was in Wellington. After dinner I had a very chilled out evening as I had seen what Wellington had to offer the previous time I was here, and after a day of just pure travelling with no new sights to see I was one day closer to Fiji but still had another two laborious journeys back to Auckland with the next journey in the morning heading to Taupo.
Love Toby xxx
- comments