Picton and Abel Tasman National Park
Monday, September 27th, 2004I arrived at the Wellington train station nice and early for the 09:05 shuttle bus to the Interislander ferry docks for my trip to Picton on the South Island. It was around 09:15 that I started to get a bit worried about being at the docks in time for the 09:30 sailing. Thankfully, a woman showed up a few minutes later and informed us that while the 09:30 Interislander had been cancelled, our tickets would be taken on the faster (a 2:15 trip rather than 3:30) Lynx ferry, leaving at the same time.
This, of course, meant that we had to hurry over to the nearby Lynx ferry terminal, but it all worked out okay in the end. The boat sailed away from the dock right on time, and out into the Cook Strait. It was supposedly a fairly calm day, but this didn’t help about 10% of the passengers who got seasick anyway. Fortunately I wasn’t among them.
The crossing of the strait wasn’t particularly exciting. The 120 vehicle, 760 passenger ferry was well equipped with the sorts of things you expect to find on such boats (video arcades, cafes, small shops) though it was a bit short on outdoor viewing decks. This was a shame really, as the crowds made it hard to enjoy and get photos of our passage through Queen Charlotte Sound as we approached our destination.
All the same, just over two hours later I was on dry land again, in the town of Picton and ready to start exploring the South Island.
[read on]
Llew