Windy Welly and the windy ferry

We finished our last blog post down at Cape Palliser, getting our first glimpse of the South Island. The next morning we headed over to the Cape Palliser Lighthouse, the southern-most tip of the North Island, and also home to the North Island’s only colony of New Zealand Fur Seals! We had a lovely morning watching the seals, and a few pups, as they lounged about on the beach and went swimming.

We then made our way into New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and decided to head out on the town for our first experience of clubbing down under. We have to admit that despite our relatively low expectations, it left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, our years at Durham prepared us well for making the most of shit clubs and we managed to have a sufficiently good time that Josie has sworn off alcohol for the foreseeable future.

Partying out of our system (for now), we had 4 days here before catching our ferry and managed to explore a lot of the city in that time. One of the highlights was the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. Here we explored exhibits on the country’s wildlife, evolution and culture. We particularly enjoyed the nature exhibit, which featured an earthquake simulator and the preserved body of a giant squid. There was also a brilliant exhibition exploring the ANZAC’s WWI Gallipoli campaign, brought to life by sculptures made at Weta Workshop, the special effects and prop studio made famous by Lord of the Rings. We then took a trip up the famous Wellington Cable Car, and Mount Victoria which both gave us great views over the city and Josie even squeezed in a quick visit to the only Welsh pub in the southern hemisphere 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

The time had come to make the trip to the ‘big island’. We woke early to board our ferry and immediately made our way to the cafe for a full English. Full with the comforting taste of home, even the 40mph gusts couldn’t deter us from standing out on deck for the entire 3 and a half hour trip. We were well rewarded with multiple dolphin sightings and even saw some albatross dancing over the Cook Straight. As we wound our way through the more sheltered Marlborough Sounds on towards Picton we were treated to some breathtaking views and seemingly endless waterways to explore.

Picton itself was full of charm and we had a well earned bowl of soup in a local eatery once there. We spent a few nights driving along the Queen Charlotte Drive - a picturesque, if not a touch challenging, clifftop route between Picton and Havelock. Once in Havelock we booked a trip with the ‘sea postie’. The primary purpose of the trip is to transport people and post to isolated islands and stays between Havelock and the Cook Straight, but tourist can join for the ride to get an insight into the places and people that call the Marlborough Sounds home. Along the way we met some locals, along with dogs, pigs and sheep and saw many more dolphins and seals. On top of it all, the scenery was stunning and made it a contender for our best activity of the whole trip so far!