Tuesday

We went down for breakfast and I had a lovely fruit salad and a muffin. Jon was then picked up by one of the port workers from Genera and taken to a meeting. It was very overcast with fine drizzle but I felt I ought to go out and see some of the capital. I had a walk around but as we were out of the centre it was not terribly interesting and in the rain not very pleasant either so I went back to wait for Jon.

We set off to the ferry and thought we knew which way to go as we had passed it on the motorway on the way in. As we were driving Jon's mobile rang - they all use them while driving here as it is not illegal. I answer Jon's and say he can't talk and take messages they must think we are mad. It was, Mark, the chap Jon had had the meeting with apologising for not leading us to the ferry and when I told him we were on the motorway he nearly had a fit and started to tell me which way we had to go and got very excited telling me not to take the turn up into the hills as it would take hours and we would miss the ferry. It's quite funny now but it wasn't at the time as Jon was also panicking as he thought we would miss the ferry. I took all the instructions and relayed them to Jon and somehow we managed to get off the motorway, turn round and get back onto the right road and down to the port. We had given ourselves plenty of time anyway so we did have time to spare.

As the day was so bad leaving the port was disappointing as it was so misty and you couldn't see anything but it was calm. It took the ferry a good 50 minutes to get out of the harbour as it does a big sweep around and I am sure on a nice day it is lovely. We crossed the Cook Straits ( 1 hour)and it was calm. I met a lady from Auckland who has rented her house out and is travelling around NZ with her husband in a camper van. She too has a blog which I will look up and we had a good old natter which really passed the time as I didn't want to go and sit inside so we sat near the engine and were warm all the way over. We entered the Queen Charlotte Sound and it was lovely so calm and peaceful and the weather was a bit clearer so we were able to take photos. It took about an hour and a half up the sound. Picton is a lovely little town nothing much other than ferries and a few ships but very pretty.

We checked into our hotel and then went out to get a cup of tea. I was given a jug of milk, a cup and saucer with a teabag in it and a lovely white teapot full of water! I don't know why they didn't put the bag in the pot! After tea we took a walk around the town and over the harbour bridge out along the sound and walked all the way to a place called Bob's Bay (don't know who Bob was but his bay was very pretty) and it passed an hour.

After a shower and change we went down to the bar of the hotel for a drink by the pool it was by then a lovely evening. We decided to try a restaurant over the road from our hotel which looked very nice for dinner. We sat on a table outside on a patio area all lit up with fairy lights. Because of sand flies and mosquitoes they brought out citronella candles and another type of burner and offered insect repellent - what service. We had an amazing meal. I had fish of the day but as the chef only had half a portion left they offered me salmon to go with it - the half portion would have been fine! I have enjoyed the fish so much since we got here and now eat it quite often. Once again I can't remember what it was called I think I am going to have to write them down so I will remember. Jon also had fish but his was called butterfish. Mine was like mackerel and Jon's was a white fish. They were served with a sun dried tomato pesto mash yummy! We had lovely fresh fruit berry Pavlova for pudding followed by flat white. Perfect end to a lovely day.