Day 147 Picton, Ferry, Wellington

We left Blenheim this morning and made our way up the highway to Picton.  We weren't planning anything real adventuresome except meet up with a new friend and to catch the ferry to Wellington. 

John Story had emailed me awhile back and asked to meet us while we were in the country.  We decided to meet for coffee while we were in Picton.  We had to stop at the Ferry Ticket Office and arrange for passage before meeting John.  Once we had completed that chore we headed for the restaurant and met up with John.  John runs a company called Walks & Tours out of the Marlborough area.  He is spending his time getting this venture off the ground as well as continuing developing a web site that he hopes will help improve New Zealand’s tourist industry.  John's webpage is  www.tourismstuff.nz 

You will see a lot of pictures from our blog on his site.  It was quite a compliment.



John Story



John is a very nice fellow and we enjoyed our time with him.  We also wish him luck in his endeavors.

We had a little time before we had to board the ferry so we took a walk around Picton.  It is a very pretty little town with a population of just under 3000 residents.  The main industry is tourism which is mainly fed by the Ferry Service.  It is the only town the ferries from South Island dock.  The downtown area has been completely redone and can now boast a very attractive water front. 

It was time to board the ferry so we headed over to the terminal and the ferry.

We got away on time and said goodbye to Picton and settled in to enjoy the 3 hour ride.

The ride through the Marlborough Sounds and the Cook Straight was very calm which made the ride very pleasurable.  The scenery wasn't bad either.

We reached Wellington right at rush hour but it wasn't too painful getting to the holiday park in Lower Hutt.  After checking we returned to the downtown area for a very nice dinner.   Then it was back to the campsite to relax for the rest of the evening.