Ferries And Cars
The interisland ferry leaves Picton at 10:00 am and we needed to be checked in 1/2 hour earlier. We packed up and checked out of our clean but very functional Americano motel room, and then proceeded to haul our numerous luggage items the 1/2 km to the ferry terminal (by the direct route). The luggage is checked before boarding, so we don't need to worry about it while travelling. We boarded and headed to the forward viewing deck to watch the ferry leave. Once we were under way, we retired to a couple of comfortable seats midway down the ship adjacent to an outside viewing area on the port side.
Here is a shot of Picton I took as we steamed away.
A floating salmon farm had broken free from its moorings into the middle of the passage the ferry normally uses as a shortcut to Wellington, so we and all our fellow passengers were forced to go out to the end of Queen Charlotte Sound and around before heading across to Wellington. This added about 30 minutes to the voyage, but it gave Debbie and I a chance to retrace our journey out in the Zachary Hicks. Our two-day trip took about 40 minutes to travel on the Ferry.
Although it won't seem significant to you readers, it was a little melancholy for us to watch Bay Of Many Coves
and Endeavour Inlet
pass us by. For what it's worth, this is what it looked like for us.
For anyone thinking about travelling to NZ, Debbie and I agree that Queen Charlotte Sound, despite all the past logging and obvious human settlement, is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet (that we've seen thus far) and should not be missed.
As we passed farther out towards open ocean, the winds picked up significantly and the seas became increasingly choppy. Of course the interisland ferries are very large vessels and the one we were travelling on was not the deterred in the slightest by the swells, but she offers a large face to the wind, and whenever the broadside of the ship was to the wind there was a noticable list to the leeward.
Here is a shot of some rocks that mark land's end at the north end of Queen Charlotte Sound. We just thought they were rugged and you might enjoy seeing them.
The ferry ride ended without incident, and after claiming our luggage and rental car, we set off north on famous highway #1 towards Taupo. We selected Taupo because it has a very large fresh-water lake and it is a little over halfway between Wellington and Auckland.
The trip up from Wellington was just as full of ridiculously gorgeous scenery as on the way down, though we didn't stop to photograph any of it. We seemed to be in a hurry, but neither of us can say why we thought so. We did stop to take a picture of this DC3 aircraft that someone has turned into a shop.
As a counterpoint to my earlier post in which I wailed about the dangerous curves of Crazy Highway #1, I must say that in retrospect the road isn't really all that awful. I somehow forgot the hundreds of kilometers of gently winding roads, and concentrated only on the few kilo's of crazy winding sloping roads ... without safety barriers ... with precipitous drops into either a deep valley or a deep lake.
It really is a nice drive, but the winding sections remind me of a young child on one of those mechanical rides that show up between the automatic doors in the grocery store. He/she sits in the driver's seat as the ride rocks gently back and forth, and swings that fake steering wheel back and forth like the car was slaloming between pilons on a drunk driving test course. Add in the "G" forces, and you're most of the way there to a ride in the mountainous sections of Highway #1.
We arrived in Taupo in good time and after settling into our scenic but austere motel room, we set out on foot for the Taupo business section in search of dinner. After a short walk we found the main restaurant street and after perusing several menus settled on the one with the best patio.
The Tongue and Groove restaurant occupies the second floor next to a giant backpacker's motel. They have a huge deck that overlooks the street with oversized picnic tables to make the cottage effect complete. The beer and wine were fine and the dinner was better than average (Debbie's was just OK but if you get there you really have to order the Venison Hot Pot: Chunky venison stew in an extremely rich red wine gravy with a flaky pastry covering ... mmmm).
We then set out on a very very very long walk through the entire rest of the retail section of Taupo in search of the 6 pack of beer that I thought I wanted. If I had known at the beginning how arduous the trek would turn out to be, I would have done without, but it seemed like a simple task. Debbie was a good sport throughout, though she did find quite a bit of mirth in the irony (however unintentional) of how far such a walking-averse individual (that's me for those that don't know me) was willing to go for a brewski. In the end we found some at the Woolworth's, which for the uninitiated is open until midnight. Who knew?
After an equally long trek back to our motel room (only now carrying beer and licorice) we settled in finally for the rest of the evening which for Debbie consisted of falling asleep to the TV and for me, reading until too late.
Thursday will see us back in Auckland ... we're looking (sadly) forward to it ...
Don
Here is a shot of Picton I took as we steamed away.
A floating salmon farm had broken free from its moorings into the middle of the passage the ferry normally uses as a shortcut to Wellington, so we and all our fellow passengers were forced to go out to the end of Queen Charlotte Sound and around before heading across to Wellington. This added about 30 minutes to the voyage, but it gave Debbie and I a chance to retrace our journey out in the Zachary Hicks. Our two-day trip took about 40 minutes to travel on the Ferry.
Although it won't seem significant to you readers, it was a little melancholy for us to watch Bay Of Many Coves
and Endeavour Inlet
pass us by. For what it's worth, this is what it looked like for us.
For anyone thinking about travelling to NZ, Debbie and I agree that Queen Charlotte Sound, despite all the past logging and obvious human settlement, is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet (that we've seen thus far) and should not be missed.
As we passed farther out towards open ocean, the winds picked up significantly and the seas became increasingly choppy. Of course the interisland ferries are very large vessels and the one we were travelling on was not the deterred in the slightest by the swells, but she offers a large face to the wind, and whenever the broadside of the ship was to the wind there was a noticable list to the leeward.
Here is a shot of some rocks that mark land's end at the north end of Queen Charlotte Sound. We just thought they were rugged and you might enjoy seeing them.
The ferry ride ended without incident, and after claiming our luggage and rental car, we set off north on famous highway #1 towards Taupo. We selected Taupo because it has a very large fresh-water lake and it is a little over halfway between Wellington and Auckland.
The trip up from Wellington was just as full of ridiculously gorgeous scenery as on the way down, though we didn't stop to photograph any of it. We seemed to be in a hurry, but neither of us can say why we thought so. We did stop to take a picture of this DC3 aircraft that someone has turned into a shop.
As a counterpoint to my earlier post in which I wailed about the dangerous curves of Crazy Highway #1, I must say that in retrospect the road isn't really all that awful. I somehow forgot the hundreds of kilometers of gently winding roads, and concentrated only on the few kilo's of crazy winding sloping roads ... without safety barriers ... with precipitous drops into either a deep valley or a deep lake.
It really is a nice drive, but the winding sections remind me of a young child on one of those mechanical rides that show up between the automatic doors in the grocery store. He/she sits in the driver's seat as the ride rocks gently back and forth, and swings that fake steering wheel back and forth like the car was slaloming between pilons on a drunk driving test course. Add in the "G" forces, and you're most of the way there to a ride in the mountainous sections of Highway #1.
We arrived in Taupo in good time and after settling into our scenic but austere motel room, we set out on foot for the Taupo business section in search of dinner. After a short walk we found the main restaurant street and after perusing several menus settled on the one with the best patio.
The Tongue and Groove restaurant occupies the second floor next to a giant backpacker's motel. They have a huge deck that overlooks the street with oversized picnic tables to make the cottage effect complete. The beer and wine were fine and the dinner was better than average (Debbie's was just OK but if you get there you really have to order the Venison Hot Pot: Chunky venison stew in an extremely rich red wine gravy with a flaky pastry covering ... mmmm).
We then set out on a very very very long walk through the entire rest of the retail section of Taupo in search of the 6 pack of beer that I thought I wanted. If I had known at the beginning how arduous the trek would turn out to be, I would have done without, but it seemed like a simple task. Debbie was a good sport throughout, though she did find quite a bit of mirth in the irony (however unintentional) of how far such a walking-averse individual (that's me for those that don't know me) was willing to go for a brewski. In the end we found some at the Woolworth's, which for the uninitiated is open until midnight. Who knew?
After an equally long trek back to our motel room (only now carrying beer and licorice) we settled in finally for the rest of the evening which for Debbie consisted of falling asleep to the TV and for me, reading until too late.
Thursday will see us back in Auckland ... we're looking (sadly) forward to it ...
Don
posted by Don at
5:31 pm
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