B-bye Wellington, Hello South Island!

Friday, Feb. 18th

Forgot to mention we visited the Te Papa museum in Wellington yesterday.  Good museum, but absolutely huge!  We didn't see all of it, but gave it a good 3 hours. Highlights were an "earthquake house" that simulated what an earthquake would feel like indoors - very freaky; and dioramas of animals that have lived or still live on New Zealand including the flightless kiwi bird, which is only found in a few spots in NZ now. Today we left Wellington for Picton via the infamous Cook Strait ferry crossing. Alot of folks who have visited New Zealand warned us that this crossing can be really fun - if fun for you means a really rough boat ride that lasts over 3 hours!!  Thankfully, Mother Nature smiled down on us on Friday and we had sunny skies and calm breezes, so no seasickness problems!  As we waited in the passenger vehicle line up to load the 10:30am ferry, we chatted up a local couple who were heading to Abel Tasman park for the weekend.  Gave us some ideas on other places to visit and hike on the South Island, including Arrowtown near Queenstown. We've come to realize that alot of people down here have never heard of Calgary before, so it's kind of fun filling them in - this middle aged couple had never visited Canada before. 

Drive from Picton (ferry arrival town) to our destination, Nelson, was, ah, interesting.  Okay, it was crazy busy and a white knuckler for a good half of it.  Glad to arrive safe and sound in Nelson.