Wellington and the ferry to the South Island

Yesterday we drove south for 8 hours through scenic countryside to Wellington, arriving at the capital late in the afternoon. En route we stopped in the town of Wanganui where we bought ourselves a down jacket each in the sales... it's absolutely freezing here at the moment! We checked into a 5* hostel in the city centre which was painted like a zebra on the outside but much nicer inside! We lugged our beloved and stuffed-full ice box plus another box full of groceries up to the kitchen and spent the evening cooking up a storm in the hostel. We are carting around enough food to open our own general store.... trust us! We finished the evening with a stroll around the city which was deadly quiet on a Sunday night.

We spent Monday wandering through the city. We took an old cable car up to the botanical gardens which sit on a hill overlooking the city and the harbour. We had a good walk then sat eating our packed lunch whilst enjoying the views. We wandered back down to the city through an old cemetery trail that depicts the history of the early European settlers of Wellington and then strolled along the pretty harbourside dotted with cafes, shops and restaurants. We spent the remainder of our afternoon in the interesting Te Papa museum, the national museum of New Zealand. We spent the evening relaxing in the hostel with a nice bottle of wine which Ash enjoyed with a huge bowl of locally picked Green Lipped mussels that he had cooked up for himself... the other guests looked on enviously!

We were up and out of the hostel early on Tuesday and down at the docks to board the Interlander ferry across to Picton on the South Island. We drove our little car onto the ferry, parked her up and then sat ourselves on the top deck to absolutely freeze but enjoy the spectacular views along the 3 hour journey, in particular through the Queen Charlotte Sound.

At Picton we went straight onto the windy Queen Charlotte coastal drive as we headed west towards the Abel Tasman National Park. The drive offered beautiful views over the fjord-like bays and inlets of the north coast. We stopped in Nelson en route to have our windscreen replaced as it had a large crack that was rapidly spreading in the cold weather. Thankfully we had decided to take out windscreen insurance at the last minute so we were covered! With a new windscreen we drove west for a further 2 hours to the tiny and remote coastal village of Marahau at the entrance to the National Park. We arrived after dark and found a charming little backpackers place called 'The Barn'. It was half empty and very tranquil, and we sat in our pjs in front of the roaring log fire with hot milo and biscuits... it was perfect!