April 1 April Fool’s Day

Awoke to overcast skies, cool temps.  Breakfast at the hotel and then taking the bus north along the coastline. We stop at the little tourist seaside town of Kaikoura where we walk to the beach for a view of the South Pacific Ocean.  Skies are overcast and the surf is mild.  The beaches along this route are all lines with large stone and stone grit.  The large glaciers fed this area and the glacial rivers still influence with dropping rock.  A quick walk around the small shops and back to the bus.  The road curves frequently as we hug the side of the mountains at sea level.  We’re sharing this narrow space with railroad tracks and there are frequent short tunnels we must go through.  The coastline is dramatic with the mountains so close.  We see dolphins and the occasional seal.  But then we come upon the seal birthing sanctuary and see up close hundreds of female seals and their pups.  The pups playing in their little pools and squawking at their mothers for food.  We drive through the large grape growing region of Marlborough.  We have had wines from here and they are always very good, usually the reds.  The region does so well there are French wineries that grow and produce from here as well.  The harvest is next month and the vines are all covered with nets to keep birds out.  We arrive at the petty little town of Picton where we catch the ferry to Wellington.  The top of south island is full of inlets and coves.  There is likely a more direct route for the ferry but Picton would probably disappear without it.  We leave the bus and walk onto the ferry.  It is the size of a small cruise ship.  They are loading buses, large semi’s, camping RV’s and trailers, and four double decker semi’s with sheep and cattle.  We are able to look down at the animals from above, they have opened their roofs for air.  They look pretty miserable, makes us sad to think of them as steaks, burgers and chops so we avoid the area.  There are cafes and bars and entertainment systems on board for those who want it.  The first part of the trip goes through a narrow inlet of low elevation tree covered mountains with little coves along the way.  Reminds us much of the Alaska inside passage.  Then we enter the Marlborough Sound where the Tasman Sea from the west meets the South Pacific Ocean on the east.  Our tour has taken us to the Tasman Sea (between Tasmania and Australia) and onto the South Pacific Ocean (Australia’s east coast).  The crossing can be hairy with the meeting of these two waters in confined space and as always there is the two great world fault lines are running right under us.  Wellington had such a large quake 100 years ago it lifted the city three inches above sea level.  We are entering the harbor at Wellington the capital.  The houses hang on rolling hills much like San Fran.  The cityscape sits on the only flat land at the bottom.  NZ had 4.5 million people most living on North Island in Wellington or Auckland.  We board the bus on while on the ferry, it’s quite an experience being among all these big vehicles below sea level. To our Novotel hotel in the heart of the city.  We go to our very nice room.  We think we’ve ditched the other tour groups so we seem to have it to ourselves.  Dinner is served individually from a condensed menu and it’s very good but the service is slow.  Enjoyable conversation with other guests.  Up to early bed, we have been on the road for the past 12 hours and it was great but tiring.