Friday on the way back

We set off after just a quick cup of tea and it was still raining. We must have stopped for breakfast but for the life of me I can't remember where. Yes I can! We stopped at a coffee bar and had a muffin with scrambled egg in Havelock which boasts to be the green lipped mussel capital of the world!! The journey to Picton was wet and not very nice. At least when we got to the ferry it had dried up and wasn't windy. We had some lunch and waited to board the ferry which wasn't very full.

We set off on time and the journey up the Sound was quite smooth but the views were no better than on the way down and there was a cold wind blowing so we sat inside by a window. As we came out of the Sound into the Straits it was very different and I thought Oh! no. How am I going to cope with this! The ship was rather up and down but on the whole it was OK - not that I will be doing it again. I wouldn't want to tempt fate. I have heard it gets really, really bad. It took us much longer to get back and I was very glad to see Wellington harbour.

We got off the ferry right into rush hour on a Friday and it was very busy all the way up the coast to Levin. The only good thing was the weather the sun was out and I was glad to be back on the North Island.

We drove to a tiny place called Foxton and found a room in the only motel there which was very basic but clean and the owner was very chatty and told us the restaurant across the road was good so after a quick wash and brush up we went over to the Laughing Fox. What a find! The waitress was from Jersey and had been there six months and loved it and was trying to sort out her papers to stay. The food was amazing and once again I had the fish of the day which was cooked with prawns and mango - lovely. Jon had venison which was also very good.

I asked the waitress where the customers come from and she told me they came from miles around as the place had such a good reputation and I could well believe it.

After a long day we were glad to go to bed but at least it wasn't raining!