Kiwis and Fairy Bread

19 December 2023

It was time to say good bye to The North Island. It was so beautiful and we enjoyed it so very much, it was hard to imagine anything better. But from all our research, and even from talking to Kiwis themselves, the South Island is even MORE beautiful! But to get there we’d have to cross Cook Strait. There are no bridges or tunnels, so it must be crossed by plane or ferry. We chose the latter. And it is the part of the trip I had been looking forward to most.

It did not disappoint.

An hour and a half easy drive took us to Wellington, a city built on the mountainside of Wellington Harbor. It is the capital of New Zealand and its second largest city (and lots of movie magic happens here too!). We made it just in time to board a Bluebridge Ferry. Yes, Mike, myself, camper van and all.

Cook Strait is notorious for being one of the most dangerous and unpredictable bodies of water in the world. Connecting the Tasman Sea with the South Pacific, between the North and South Islands of NZ, the crossing can take anywhere between 3 hours in good weather, 8 1/2 in bad. In anticipation of a difficult crossing, we paid a little extra to have a private cabin. That way in rough seas, we could just get in bed and sleep.

But the weather was very fine as The Feronia, ship built in 1997 set off. We stood on the windy top deck to watch the sailing out of the harbor, then explored the ship. There is a movie theatre, cafe, coffee shop, several viewing decks and 2 floors of rooms. Our room had a lovely vintage feel: very Agatha Christie. Two bunks with soft comforters and pillows, a wooden desk with hoops to keep your glass from rolling off, a full bathroom with toilet, sink and shower with, apparently VERY hot water. Laying in the bed, the motion quickly rocked me to sleep (my mother always said I was a motion sleeper). Mike’s dose of Dramamine helped him stave off a little bit of motion sickness.

As time passed it would have been easy to stay in the room, but there was a ship to explore, lunch to eat and the stunning scenery of The Queen Charlotte Sound to see as we approached the South Island. On deck we met a man from Mount Maunganui, who had actually trained the winner of the Mount Monster Race! We told him we were very impressed.

All too soon the crews announced that it was time to check out of the rooms: it had been just 3 hours! Familiar faces hurried to clean the rooms and shuttle the passengers back down to their vehicles. It was then that I realized the crew are a group of multi-taskers. The same people who guided us into and out of the ship, also made and served our coffee and made the beds in our rooms. They do this on 2 round trips a day. And there are 4 ships in the Blueridge fleet alone.

The trip was so pleasant we wished it has been longer, another hour would have been perfect! But it was still a very long day.

Off the ferry and onto another VERY curvy road brought us to the DOC Momorangi Campsite. On the coast of Marlborough sound, this quiet spot has quite a view, and some very sweet kids.

I made friends with a little 3 year old named Orion. He showed me his tiny green and yellow “am-ba-lance” and I told him the story of his name sake, Orion the hunter. As the sky darkened I was surprised to see that my favorite constellation was standing on his head!!

And the moon? Well, we saw the rabbit’s ears, so we think it’s upside down!

Mike made friends with a 9 year old boy named Hanu. They skipped rocks on the water as twilight gathered. Hanu was excited about everything! He picked up a little clam, ran to his parents, and told them he had found food for dinner. He showed us his fishing pole, that could collapse for easy transport. I asked if he had ever caught any fish. Of course, and it was “this big!” It was even bigger when I took a photo of him. And then the story turned into catching crabs bigger than his head! He was a darling. He made us smile.

I have noticed I am smiling a lot. Big smiles, all the time. So big, I think I am getting more wrinkles. Laugh lines? I don’t mind one bit!