Sleep finally came after the clock battery was removed because Renee didn’t want to be counting the seconds she wasn’t sleeping. 5:30 wake up call and a quiet ride to the bus station. We boarded the bus without incident, yeah for one thing going right! We settled in for a 5.5-6.5 hour bus ride to Picton.
The bus had quite an eclectic group of people. Two guys with dredds and a guitar, several newlywed couples and some backpackers. The smell of stale cigarette smoke and body were our constant companions for the ride. And no, it wasn’t our bo – we think. Backpackers don’t care much about hygiene but we hadn’t been out on the trail yet so w were safe.
The views were spectacular – we went through mountains, vineyards, and along the coast. The pictures of course don’t do it justice. There re yellow bushes and trees that looked like they had been planted in rows. The Christmas tree potential was enormous. The hills in some parts looked like they had carpet of bushes/grass, really uniform. I couldn’t see any rocks, the vegetation was so think there is no way I woud want to bushwhack through there!
On one of our comfort stops we got some food from the Why not Cafe and enjoyed a muffin and minced meat pie.
At Picton we caught the Inter Islander ferry to Wellington. It was very warm on the outer deck, but once we got started it cooled off considerably and we donned all our clothing. We went inside to warm up and some mild sea sickness led us to take some naps.
We docked in Wellington and a guy practically pushed us into his cab to take us to our rental car. His rig was tricked out with disco balls and lights. He told us all about Wellington as he dropped off his customers. Our first hint that our car rental might be a problem came when our taxi driver had never heard of the company we were using. The second hint was that the hotel manager of the place we got dropped off didn’t know what we were talking about either.
After 10 minutes of searching for a phone number we finally got someone too pick us up and take us to the rental place. Evidently Expedia had an old address on their site. Once the paperwork was signed we began the process of learning to drive on the left side of the road. The car rental agent probably thought we would total the car before we left the lot. Alison did all the driving and Renee tried to navigate. After a couple of false starts we were on our way. Driving in then ark on the “wrong” side of the road was nerve wracking but afte four hours we finally made it to our host stay around midnight.
On the way we stopped at a gas station for some vittles as were feeling a bit peckish. We settled on what ended up being basically bacon bit puffs. Alison had a steak pie but Renees sandwich seemed to be more like a butter and onion instead of egg salad. Maybe it is popular in NZ?
We had the best host stay yet. He even called us to see when we were coming and directed us in. I think he realized we were tired, frustrated and ready to be there. He was very welcoming. The house was amazing, so big. The bed were so soft that we went to bed immediately.
Life is an Adventure 