Wellington - Picton: 2:15 hour ferry crossing
1 December 2002
Today
is our last day on the North Island. After breakfast we pack our things and
check-out of the hotel. Our ferry to Picton does not leave until 3.30pm.
We first set out to drink coffee at
Starbucks and then drive to the Mt Victoria Lookout. From here we have a
wonderful view of the city, the harbour and the Cook Strait. We continue to
the Lady Norwood Rose Garden in the botanical gardens. We have a sandwich
in the cafeteria and stroll through the gardens. We take the car to the ferry terminal
of the Interisland
Line. Here we hand in our car. That's fairly easy. We park it in one of
Budget's parking bays and drop the key in a letter box in the terminal building.
Our boat, the Lynx does not sail from here, it turns out.
The Lynx is a fast catamaran
ferry, that does the crossing in 2 hours and 15 minutes whereas the conventional
ferries take 3 hours. We do have to check in here and there is a bus taking us
to the right terminal. The crossing itself runs very smoothly. After 2 hours we
pull into the port of Picton. At the terminal we get our new car, a Nissan Primera. We
drive to our B&B, The
Gables, only a couple of blocks away from the terminal. The owners, Ian and
Paula have only taken over the place a month ago, but their previous experience
in the trade shows. We have dinner at Americano's. Decent food. Then we turn in
early.
In Picton it is heavily overcast and it rains from time to time.
Not very promissing for tomorrow's activities.
2 december 2002
This morning I am going to do the first part of the Queen Charlotte
Track . Erik will not come with me, on account of his sore ankle. Ian and Paula
have prepared a fine lunch box to see me through the day. After breakfast I walk
through the pouring rain to the port. Cougar Line's
boat for Ship's Cove leaves at 8am. It is about 45 minutes through the Queen Charlotte Sound.
On our way we are accompanied by some dolphins. At Ship's Cove the track starts.
The cove, according to the skipper, unchanged since Captain Cook first set eyes
on it some 220 years ago, is very lovely indeed. The walk goes fairly steeply
uphill for the first 45 minutes or so towards a lookout. The weather has cleared
a bit and the sun comes through now and then. 
After the lookout the track gradually descends to Resolution Bay. There is a
lodge - only reached by boat or on foot- where I have a pot of tea and a muffin.
After that I set out for the second stage. It is another three hours to
the Endeavour Inlet. Again beautiful vistas of the Charlotte Sound
and its branches. Around 1:00pm I arrive at Furneaux Lodge on the Endeavour Inlet,
the end of my wal. Walking the entire Queen Charlotte Track would have taken 4
days and the Cougar Line can take care of bringing your luggage from one lodge
to the next. I wait for the boat that will bring me back to Picton. It leaves at
2:45. It stops a couple of times on the way and again we meet some dolphins.
Erik is waiting on the jetty. We arrive there around 4:15. Erik has driven the
Queen Charlotte Drive today (Picton - Blenheim - Havelock - Picton).
At
night we have again dinner at
Americano and drink a beer in a hotelbar.
3 December 2002
After a fine breakfast (scrambled eggs on request) were waived off
by Ian and Paula and south through the Marlborough
region. We stop in Blenheim for coffee.
We stop again just past Blenheim at the Montana
winery.
Marlborough is one of the most famous wine growing districts of New Zealand. We
taste a few and buy a bottle 
(Sauvignon Blanc;
fresh capiscum, gooseberries and other fruit). We carry on towards Kaikoura. On
our way we stop to have a look at the seal colony at Ohoa Point te kijken. On
the rocks a few dozen fur seals enjoy their rest and the sun shine. The wind is
coming our way which means that we can not only see them but also smell them
quite distinctly.
In Kaikoura we drive to
the Maui YHA-hostel. We have a twin room here. Small and simple, but the
facilities are in clean and in good order. We have lunch
in the village at the Craypot where we
can enjoy and sit in the sun
After lunch we drive to Whale Watch Kaikoura,
who are based in the former railway station. The company is owned and operated
by Maori's and is the only one licensed to approach Whales at close range. We have
booked for the 3.30 departure, but now we are here early we can join the 1.15
.
It is a beautiful trip with a catamaran boat. After about 15 minutes we spot our
first Sperm Whale. A beautiful sight. It stays at the surface for a while,
blowing through it's nosehole from time to time before it graciously
starts its dive. Seeing the tail going down is the best part.
We keep on sailing for a while and after another 45 minutes we see
the second whale. This one goes down with even more grace. Finally we meet a
large pod of Dusky Dolphins. The dolphins play gayfully around the boat and jump
out of water every now and then.
We are lucky. The dolpins are not tame and whatever they like. It is forbidden
to feed them or otherwise disturb their natural behaviour. On our way back we
pass a rock with sunbathing fur seals. It is then time to go back to the port.
It was not a particularly heavy see today, but still I am happy it is over. My
head fairly unsettled.
At
night we eat at the
Green
Dolphin, a trendy café and restaurant with well prepared dishes and a friendly
service. We can drink our own Montana wine we bought this morning. We turn in
early, because tomorrow is action time again.
4 December 2002
Up
early and quick breakfast. Then down town to Dolphin Encounter
for a special trip. We are going to swim with dolphins.
Dolphin Encounter -
the only outfit with a license for this kind of activity i Kaikoura - takes
things seriously. We first get our gear: a lining, wetsuit, gogles, snorkel and
flippers. Then follows an instruction and a video. There is good and bad news.
The good news is that a couple of Orca's have been spotted and we are going to
see them. The bad news is that the Dolphins don't like that and have scattered
into small groups all over the coast. We are lucky with the weather. It's
cloudy, but the see is quiet en we will go out to sea. We're shuttled to South
Bay where our vessel is ready to sail. We are welcomed by Fiefie, who also acted
as our waitress last night at eht Green Dolphin. Today she is our guide for this
tour. Fortunately we are in a small group of around 8 swimmers. We first
go out to sea to spot the Orca’s. We see four of them. They are beautiful
animals to watch, but we are only interested in dolphins today.
Besides, we already watched Orca's at close range in Canada. After leaving the
Orca's we go and look for Dolphins. The large pod of about 60 dolphins has
scattered on account of the Orca's, but do spot small groups here and there. We
are in the water three times to swim with these animals. The wetsuit was not
wasted on us as the water is very cold (15°C/60°F). The dolphins are curious
and swim around us, but not as long as they use to. After a short while they
swim elsewhere. We see small groups of dolphins all over the place, jumping in
and out of the water. The swimming with all the gear (including a splash camera)
was a bit tiring. We also had to make funny nois
es,
sing and humm to attract the dolphin's attention. After an hour the party is
over. We get hot cocao to warm up again and set course for South Bay
again. The sun has started shining and it gets warmer (20°C/70°F). We
are fairly tired of all the swimming and boating.
We have lunch and do some e-mailing back home. The rest of the day
is spent hanging around the hostel. At night we eat at Rock's café and
restaurant.
