Off to the South Island

Wednesday, January 11

We repacked and are ready at the terminal for our Islander ferry to Picton, at the north end of the South Island for our last four days in New Zealand. It’s a beautiful day so the crossing should be glorious, with the sun on the waves and the mountains crashing down into the sea. We’ll see.

Last night’s dinner was a hoot. Capri Bar, recommended by our friend James, is in Wellington’s central business district, not far from Parliament and in a nest of high rise office buildings. We took a trolley bus over from the hotel and arrived spot on, to find only one other couple in the restaurant. The owner, Andy, explained later that no one really stays much in Wellington in January, the height of the summer vacation period, so not much clientele.

We had seen the menu earlier when we made the reservation, so John had decided on Venison Wellington as his main course. Ben listened to the fish of the day, a blue nose, the local grouper, and chose that. But we didn’t want a heavy appetizer, so we talked to Andy, who had the chef make two lovely lettuce, arugula and tomato salads for us to start. Ben decided it would be a pinot noir to go with the meal, so we chose a Margrain Martinborough Rivers Edge Pinot Noir 2009. What came was a 2008 and it was superb! Lovely bouquet, nice finish, good taste all the way around.

John’s venison was lovely, with a mound of roasted potatoes and Ben’s grouper was a beautiful white tender meaty fish, full of flavor, topped with a nice slice of chorizo! We did not have dessert, instead spending a goodly time chatting with the owner. Turning 30 and getting married! Obviously enjoys running his restaurant and knowing about food and wine. We got a good course that added to our knowledge of the various NZ wines. The country has quite a viticulture. Andy finds Gibbston pinot noirs from the South Island a favorite. We’ve never seen them in the US.

This morning we headed off to Te Papa to finish of the exhibits we had wanted to see. We checked out in detail the Maori exhibits including the buildings and then looked over a history of immigration into New Zealand and the push for human rights in the country in the 1980s, including the move for gay rights and women’s rights.

The hotel, At Home in Wellington, lived up to every expectation. Comfortable bed, good shower, wifi, nice view of the harbor and close to everything, particularly the Te Papa museum and busses into the CBD. We even left them our clipping from the New York Times about them as a place to stay that they had heard about but not actually seen. Good fun.

We boarded a few minutes late, but were lucky; the 10 AM crossing had been delayed so people had missed their train and cruise connections in Picton. One couple, from the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean had another 75 miles to travel before they could rest--and on back country New Zealand roads that wiggle and wind that is a long way.

Crossing Cook Sound was easy. Some days it is incredibly rough, it’s said.
It is apparently one of the most dangerous sounds in the world. The wind was quite incredible. Enough to bring Ben inside.

We had a couple of sandwiches and coffees, which met specification. Arriving into Queen Charlotte Sound, named after George III’s wife, was awesome. It’s not a fjord, but it is lined with high hills and mountains in the distance, some cloud-capped. The ferry, which is the size of a smallish cruise liner, ploughs up the sound at a 20 mph pace rounding points at each time the views continue. Picton comes up about 40 minutes later, a smallish town, at the head of the sound where the rail connections to the rest of the island connect. The Arawatea, our ship, carries whole trains that connect to the lines in the south island.

The engines that shunt the freight cars onto the ship are all remotely operated and only three or four crew go in with each section of freight cars, broken up to fit in the hold, to make sure that cars are stowed correctly. Quite a sight.

We walked up to the hotel, about half a mile, the Broadway. It’s on a busy corner, near the rail line, but otherwise is excellent. No breakfast so John went shopping at the supermarket across the street for two days-worth of breakfast. The whole think of coffee, scones, muesli, yoghurt and lots of soft drinks (John gets thirsty) was about NDZ 25, which is about the same price as breakfast for two one day. Groceries are expensive here, about 20 percent more than in the States. Gasoline seems to be about USD 6.50 per gallon. It’s NDZ 2.20 per litre.

Dinner at the Oxley was not bad last night. It’s a pub on the front overlooking the harbor. We ordered seafood chowder with ciabatta for Ben, which was excellent. John had a venison burger, which was also good, with a Speight, local, ale. We wondered back up the hill through the High Street, a bit wide, empty road with shops on either side to the motel and to bed.

Today we head off wine tasting, in about 15 minutes and then go on a cruise on several other sounds finishing with mussels from a green-lipped mussel farm. On to the wineries!