We were booked on the 9:30am Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton ($46 each) this morning, so it was a slightly earlier rise than usual, in order to pack everything back into two bags for the crossing. As usual, there were many ducks in the caravan park, happily eating the bread we offered until Trav began to lace it with red wine (small amount left over that was easier to tip out than pack). None of the ducks would touch the wine-laced bread, providing evidence why ducks are not much good at Communion.

We had the choice of keeping the car and taking it on the ferry with us ($165) or leaving the car at Apex Car Rentals at one end of the trip, and picking up a different car at the other. We’ve got better things to spend the money on that taking a car, so we dropped off the car at the depot, and the people from Apex Car Rentals drove us to the ferry terminal. We checked our luggage and waited to board. The ferry began boarding at about 8:30am, in preparation for the 9:30am departure, so we decided to get on, and find some good window seats up the front of the boat.

It was here that we encountered a woman who failed to comprehend the concept of boat design. She would sit down in one seat, then change her mind and move to another. A few minutes after her husband had dutifully followed her to that seat, she would think another seat was better and change once more, telling him to follow her. It took her four seat changes before she decided they were in the best available seats, and all the time, she was asking people around her whether they were at the front of the boat, or the back. She was desperate to be at the front of the boat so they could get the best view, but she was not sure if she was at the back or the front.

Some of this confusion may have been due to the fact that when the ferry arrived, it had backed into the dock, and therefore, she might have thought they were coming in forwards from the South Island. However, as with almost every boat, there is a POINTY end, and a BLUNT end. She was at the pointy end, and all ship design diagrams on the walls indicated it was the front end. Even the dolphin logo on the ship’s body was facing forward, and since dolphins rarely swim backward, it was a safe bet we were at the front. None of this mattered though, and she kept announcing in a loud voice that she had to be at the front of the boat to get a good view.

Trav overheard her husband about 20 minutes after departure talking to the others in his group that his wife (our SPOTD) was now soundly asleep, and was admiring the view she HAD to have, through closed eyelids…

Upon arriving in Picton, we went to the rental car depot to get our replacement car and found we’d been upgraded (again!) to a larger model car because they did not have a manual Corolla (economy or touring model). Thus, at no extra cost to us, we got a more powerful Nissan Bluebird, featuring larger cabin space (which was perfect for Trav).

We had a quick look around Picton, but being a Sunday afternoon, it was mostly closed, leaving Trav to play on some playground equipment that was far too small for him. Only just managing to not get stuck inside, we decided it was time to be on our way before he had to be cut out by rescue staff.

Although we originally had a rough idea we might stay in Nelson, we were advised by the tourism staff to just drive past it to Westport on the opposite coast. This was a rather winding road, although there were large sections where it was open and flat also. New Zealand’s famous reputation for sheep farming was more obvious on this island, with a noticeable increase in sheep numbers on farms beside the road.

The road to Westport essentially followed the Buller River, and wound in between cliffs composed of many different rock sizes and colours. It also featured a large number of one-lane bridges which we had not encountered before. There are signs posted to show which traffic (ie: you or oncoming cars) have the right of way, but often the bridges were long, and impossible to see if there was a car about to come onto the bridge from the other end. Very odd indeed.

We soon learned it was more a case of common sense, and if you saw a car at the other end, it was best to slow down in case they had not seen you and both ended up on the bridge at the same time. By the end of the trip, we’d probably crossed 50% of these one-lane bridges without being able to see if anything was coming, so we’d had to proceed whether we had the right of way or not.

Just west of Murchison, we stopped and walked over the longest swing-bridge in New Zealand. As we were walking out on it, there was a couple in front of us, but the girl freaked out once she reached the section above the river and had to walk back past us to get off. The bridge was made of wire and mesh, and so was very see-through, and she didn’t like the looks of the drop below her feet. It did seem odd to freak out over the water though, because she’d made it about 30 metres out, and was over rocks the whole way. I think I’d rather fall into water than rocks, were the bridge to collapse, but then, I’d rather the bloody bridge didn’t collapse!

As we drew closer to the coast, the mountains grew more frequent, and the open flat roads were left well behind. At one point, there was a section of road that actually just cut out of the cliff face, and basically had a natural roof over the road. It was a one-lane section, and had convex mirrors installed to see around the corners, and the speed allowed was a mere 15kph, so it was a very interesting (read : “oh please don’t let anything come around the corner at us!”) section to drive on.

As we were arriving in Westport, it began to rain slightly, and so we decided that since it was $20 for a tent site, and $29 for a chalet, we’d take the chalet and enjoy the night without fear of any leaky tent roof problems. Di also pointed out that since it was a chalet, it had a pointy roof, which was tent-like, so we were still not cheating too much… When they gave us the keys to check it out, they pointed out that it was being painted on the outside, but the interior was okay. As we walked up to the building to check it out, we realised why they had told us this - obviously not to freak us out when we saw the paint splodges on the door.

After dinner, we drove down to the beach, but because it was low tide, and due to storms the previous week, there was just a large expanse of bare sand, with the high tide marked by large driftwood debris piles. Not at all appealing, and as we found out later, typical of the beaches on the South Island.

Onward to the glaciers tomorrow…

Categories: NZ 1999, Travel