On March 10th, Chris and took a ferry from Wellington on the North Island to the port of Picton on the South Island. It was a 3 and a half hour trip that took us through the Marlborough Sounds (Wikipedia article here, and an explanation of the difference between fjords and sounds here). The ferry was enormous! I had to share some photos here, as the only ferry I’ve ever been on is the ferry to Block Island in Rhode Island. I was fascinated by the entire process of boarding with our rental car.
Upon landing in Picton, Chris drove us to Cloudy Bay, one of the many vineyards to be found on the South Island, and we had a loooooooovely charcuterie/cheese board/glass of wine lunch outside in the most perfect-summer-day weather. We then drove another two hours to our destination for the day, Mapua. Chris’ sister Clare has a house in Mapua and graciously let us stay there for a few days. I wish I had taken some photos of Mapua itself instead of just the hundreds of photos of birds that I took. It’s a sleepy beach town, and Clare’s house is within easy walking distance of a developed wharf area that has several restaurants and a coffee shop. A day or so into our stay in Mapua, Chris and I drove to Nelson airport to pick up our fellow traveler and co-conspirator for the rest of our trip, my step-daughter Chloe. To say that Chloe is fun and always up for an adventure is like saying that New York City is busy – from the moment we met her in Arrivals we knew that the Fun Dial was turned up to Eleven.
After a couple of days exploring the area around Mapua, the three of us embarked on a road trip down the western coast and then inland to Queenstown (where Chloe lives).
The photos here are from Split Apple Rock, Paparoa National Park, Lake Wanaka (and the Instagram-famous Lake Wanaka Tree) Lake Hawea, and Glenorchy (featuring Banjo and Yogi, Chris’ sister Clare’s sons). I know it’s a big mishmash and photo-dump, but I’ve been having such a hard time getting to this blog lately and I do so want to share these photos with you. I hope you enjoy them!
Love,
Michelle xoxo
PS – my photo-sizing is all over the place here – something I’m working on!