Crossing Cook Strait

On the day we were due to cross Cook Strait, we left Plimmerton quite early—just before 6:30am. I’d thought this was possibly a bit of overkill for an approx. half-hour drive when we didn’t need to book in until 8am, but . . .  Dave was right. We arrived early (of course) and checked in straight away—not too much waiting (which is the one of the benefits of getting there early).

The girl checking us in told us we should have been stopped before we'd gotten as far as we had and directed us to where we were meant to be. Or she tried to.

We eventually found a helpful man in an orange high-viz vest that opened a gate to let us through so we were right at the front of a queue, ready to board.

Apparently, as we were a bit large, someone should have pulled us over before we’d gone down the lane following all the motorhomes . . .

Dave had met a lovely couple (Graeme and Maria) back at the Plimmerton NZMCA. They (and their dog Ruby) came over to chat with us as we waited for boarding to commence.

There were about 140 bikes to go on first. The annual Bert Munro Challenge—the largest motorcycle rally in the southern hemisphere—was being held in Invercargill later that week.

Before too long, it was our turn. One of the reasons we chose to go with the Interislander was because you could drive in one end and out the other—no turning around. This is possible with two of their ships: the Kaitaki and the Kaiarahi. We were on the Kaitaki. We’ve recently been told that travelling over on the Bluebridge is significantly cheaper so we will check that out the next time we cross over between the islands.

The crossing from Wellington to Picton takes 3.5 hours. This would be from 9:00am when we were due to sail. It was now 8:00am-ish and that would mean probably 4.5 hours before we got to return to our vehicles. We were I was a bit nervous about leaving Lucy alone for so long, but we didn’t have a lot of choice. I gave her a treat, with another one for her to find later on my seat, and headed upstairs. No doubt she demolished them both within the next five minutes.

Coffee and breakfast were calling. We found a table and, after our new friends joined us, Dave went off to order our breakfast. I’d hope to pop back down to check on Lucy before we sailed but they obviously lock the doors to the vehicle decks before 8:50am.

Before much longer we were moving, and I headed outside—where it was VERY windy—to take some photos.

Leaving Wellington.

That’s the North Island in the distance. And some of the vehicles on the deck below. We were parked under cover on a lower deck.

We’d been assured that a northerly wind is okay—it's the southerlies that cause choppy seas—and the wind was coming from the north today. Although it was extremely windy the entire crossing, the seas were calm. Many people braved the wind to enjoy the views. This is approaching the South Island.

In a short space of time we were entering the Marlborough Sounds.

 I believe this is a salmon farm.

 

Houses along the way where people live with up-close views of the Sounds.

Does it look like black goats on their front lawn?

There were plenty of others enjoying the Sounds.

Interesting artwork on the side of this boat.

Dave pointed out a seal, but by the time I managed to focus on it, it was just a black blob in the water. Then we saw dolphins! They're not as easy to photograph as I’d imagined. You find them in the viewfinder, zoom in, focus . . . and then they’re gone! This was all I managed to get. At least they’re recognisable!

We passed the other Interisland ferry, the Kaiarahi, heading for Wellington.

This is Waikawa Bay . . .

. . .  and as we rounded a corner, we could see our destination, Picton.

As soon as we were allowed, we went back down to the vehicle decks to greet Lucy. Both treats had been devoured, and although she was happy to see us, she wasn’t at all distressed. What a relief.

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Plimmerton

Plimmerton is about 25 mins from Wellington by car or half an hour by train. We stayed in this lovely seaside community at an NZMCA (NZ Motor Caravan Association) Park for about a week before we crossed over to the South Island. The park was huge, but being a popular stop before or after travelling by ferry, most nights it was quite full. The night before we left for the ferry, it was chokka! We ended up giving our space to someone just arriving and parked ourselves out in the middle in front of some campervans. We were leaving quite early (6:30am) but made sure we wouldn't be blocking anyone in.

Apart from that one night out in the middle, we were parked near the back fence away from the front gate. From here, we had a clear view of the railway track. We saw Kiwi Rail freight trains go past quite often . . .

. . . and then the Metlink passenger trains that were very frequent. They departed every half hour to go into Wellington, and so we decided that one day we would take a train into the city. We had planned to come back to Plimmerton on the train as well, but that was not to be. As mentioned in my previous post, something went wrong with the power, and trains were cancelled for a while.

Just a short distance from the NZMCA Park, we discovered this Doggy Daycare. Without this, we wouldn't have been able to spend the day in Wellington as we couldn't leave Lucy for that long on her own. Not only did they agree to have Lucy for the very next day, but they were also able to give her a full groom for us.

Right beside here we were staying was a park that was used for archery as well as other sports. We noticed people regularly exercising their dogs here, and we walked through this park to get to an underpass (under the train tracks).

In this next photo, the far end is where we entered the underpass from the park side. To get to the train station, you go up the ramp off to the side, and if you continue straight though and out this other side, you end up right in town! So handy. It only took us about 10 minutes to walk into town.

There were some great murals in the underpass—this was one of our favourites.

If you ever come to Plimmerton, there's a nice fish 'n' chips shop (the one just around the corner) and the pizza on the corner is fabulous. It can take a long time for them to make your pizza though, so perhaps consider ordering ahead by phone. Walking on past the shops, you come to the waterfront.

There's not a lot of sand on this beach—it's mostly rocks, but still people manage to enjoy themselves.

There are some places you can get down and walk along the shore . . .

. . . but it was easier to walk along the lovely wide footpath.

This was one of the few sandy spots.

There wasn't a lot of space between the high bank to our left and the road (with the sea on our far right). Houses are built right up against the bank and in some cases part way up the bank as well (see the first photo in this post). In the photo below, you can see behind the house some of the work that's necessary to stabilise the bank. No room for a back yard here, but the views and having the sea just across the road out front would be wonderful.

One day we went for a drive and found a high point that gave us some fabulous views looking south along the coast.

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Wellington Train Trip

As the Plimmerton train station was just a short walk from where we were staying, we decided to make the most of the opportunity and take a train into the capital one day. We settled Lucy into a Doggy Day Care just down the road and set off for the station.

Our transport arrives . . .

It was about a half hour trip until we arrived in Wellington.
First, a walk along the waterfront towards Te Papa Museum. Here are some of the sights:
Giant kina!

Typical Wellington houses clinging to the hillsides in the distance.

Te Papa Museum across the water.

A closer view of some of those homes.

Looking back, away from the water, towards the city and her tall buildings.

A young couple were playing this colourful piano.

The Michael Fowler Centre—a large concert hall and convention centre that seats over 2000 people during a concert.

I guess some of you may have heard the the fence of bras in Cardrona . . . but I'd never heard of this fence of padlocks! Some of them were named.

Looking back.

There was a line of containers—a few of them were open for business . . . small shops set up to sell to people as they walked by.

This was a Jump platform built for kids to jump off into the water below. When we came back later in the day, they were lining up at the top.

At the base of the Jump structure—I guess the young ones know what these all mean!

Eventually, we arrived at Te Papa Museum.

The impressive entrance to the Gallipoli exhibition.

As we entered the Gallipoli exhibition, this was the first thing we saw. A larger-than-life model whose expression was not truly captured in this photograph. Horror, pain and passionate commitment and determination were all communicated by this injured soldier's face and stance.

There was a timeline on the floor.

More large-size models portraying scenes from the war . . .

. . . and plenty to read about on the walls. There were interactive displays, film clips, audios explaining the taking of ridges, etc. while lights showed the progress of war on a model of the area—to be honest, it's one of those exhibitions that just needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. Each person I spoke to who had been through it were very moved by what they'd seen.

If you get the chance to see this exhibition, I highly recommend you do. It's truly amazing . . . informative, eye-opening and very sobering.

At the top of Te Papa is a viewing platform. There are huge glass wall panels so you don't get blown off. Yes, it was VERY windy up there . . .

. . . so this photo is taken through glass.

One of the other exhibits at Te Papa. The Britten V1000—a racing bike designed and hand built in Christchurch by John Britten and his friends in the early 1990s.

After we left Te Papa, we did a bit of shopping and wandered the streets looking for the cable car. We came across this impressive looking church—St Mary of the Angels. They're fundraising to strengthen it against earthquakes, and the fund target display on the side of the building shows them as just under a million dollars short of their $11M target. An expensive business, but well worth retaining this beauty.

We found the cable car!

The cable car rises 120m from Lambton Quay up to the suburb of Kelburn. This is a view of the roof of the cable car as you go through the entrance gates after buying your ticket.

At the top.

It's a great view from up here!

Having done only a few of the tourist "musts" when visiting Wellington, we now needed to get back to the train station to catch our transport back to Plimmerton so we could pick Lucy up before the Doggy Day Care closed.

However, we were puzzled and surprised to see a sign on our train's platform that said trains to Waikanae (our direction) were cancelled??? After speaking to those milling around, it appeared there was a power outage and trains were not able to run. After speaking to an official-looking gentleman in a high-viz vest, we deducted that not only were the trains not likely to be running again any time soon, but the buses that were to be their back-up plan were probably an hour or so away. At least. 

We were very fortunate to be standing next to a wonderfully organised lady called Anthea who was in the throes of arranging an Uber driver to take her to Porirua. She offered to share the fare with us and we gratefully accepted.

Along the way, we managed to see a little more of Wellington—the Beehive . . . 

. . . and Parliament Buildings.

And thus we managed to get back to Plimmerton for just $20. Before the Doggy Daycare closed. Lucy was extremely happy to see us—but we like to think she enjoyed her day as much as we did!


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