New Zealand - North Island to South Island - Wellington to Motueka - Day 8
December 24, 2005

Out the door bright and early to make our way to the ferry which was to take us from Wellington in the North Island to Picton in the South Island. We said goodbye to Dale on our way out and gave her a small gift we picked up at the Te Papa Museum for providing us with free accommodation. Then we made our way to the ferry terminal, dropping off our new but gutless little car to the rental company on the way. We had notched up just over 1330 kilometers during our time in the North Island.

We boarded the Interislander ferry and being Christmas Eve, it was packed to near capacity (which is 1600 passengers and 600 vehicles). We found ourselves a seat at the front of the ferry looking out the front windows, making sure that the horizon was well in view so we didn't get sick. We decided not to grab breakfast at the huge buffet style cafe on board and instead settled for a soft drink each for the trip.

The ferry started the journey out of Wellington Harbour and a while later the captain of the ship came on the intercom, saying something along the lines of "This is your captain speaking, today's crossing isn't going to be good, can I suggest everyone just find a seat and stay in it until we get through the worst of it. The upper deck will be closed due to the strong seas". The "worst of it" came about one hour into the trip as the ferry came out of the calm protected waters and into the open sea between the two islands, the dreaded Cook Strait.


South Island
I'm never going on that ferry again.
For the next 45 minutes I was in hell, it started with a gallon of sweat pouring down my face. Looking out the windows didn't help as all we could see was either a spray of water on the glass or the ocean itself as the boat dipped back down again at a 45 degree angle, no horizon. Luckily I was one of the first to go and I didn't have to witness other people throwing up and trying to hold it back myself. A few kids beat me to opening the sick bags, but after filling mine with pretty much pure orange Fanta I was feeling much better and laid down for a nap. Fiona managed to survive the ordeal unscathed.

Roughly three hours after we left Wellinginton we disembarked in Picton on the South Island. As we waited at the carousel for our luggage we watched as at least five identical Eskys passed by, one of which we knew must be ours. Luckily everyone else had the good sense to label their Eskys so all we had to do was find the one without a name on it. We had to hit the road almost immediately to make it to Motueka that evening, so we picked up our rental car which was to become our second home for the next two weeks, a Honda Logo.


"The" Honda Logo
Bathe in it's glory.
It was an older car, and one of the car speakers didn't work, but as we hit the road it was obvious that it shat all over the Hyundai Getz we had in the North Island, going up hills like they weren't there... comparatively anyway. Our only real stops on the way to Motueka were just outside Nelson where I had to run into a strange colonial style fun park to use their amenities before my bladder exploded, and then in Nelson itself to use the internet, grab some late lunch and get food supplies for Christmas Day.


The White Elephant
Formally the Pink Elephant.
We checked into our accomodation at the White Elephant Backpackers at around 5pm. Although the place itself was nice, with our own separate cabin at the back of the property and the German owners were fairly friendly, we felt quite alienated during our stay there as most of the other occupants spoke foreign languages and congregated together in the evenings. We went for a quick drive around the town and down to the beach at sunset, before having dinner and hitting the sack for the night, waiting for Santa to come.


Motueka Beach
Gilligan not shown.

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