And finally………

 

Picton

The last day of the holiday is the trip across Cook Strait to Wellington.  A three-and-a-half-hour trip on a piece of water that can at various times be like a mill pond, a wild southern sea with humongous waves, or like our trip today - windswept but with quite a light swell. 

 

It is a beautiful sunny day with wind promised for both the top of the south and bottom of the north islands.  First thing this morning, we went to the local farmers market and got some vegetables, daffodils, and a coffee, before heading to Picton wharf to be loaded onto the ship.  The ship did not have many passengers and there would have been more room for cars if required. 

 

The holiday has been great.  At the same as we went away the number of covid infections steadily decreased.  We found that people who followed the mask mandate steadily decreased as the days passed by. I suspect though that throughout, fewer people were using them in the south than in Wellington. 

 

Tourism has started to pick up and the number of rental camper vans on the road were greater than when we were last down south in March 2022.  There were a few different accents around as well. 

 

Drivers in the south can be more impatient than in Wellington and perhaps the north.  I was tooted at menacingly more times in Christchurch than I have been in Wellington in the past couple years.  Some of the driving left a bit to be desired as well although most people kept to the speed limit. 

 

We were so lucky with the weather.  The only rain we encountered was a little on our journey south to Christchurch and then a bit during the morning when we were in Oamaru.  We did feel that spring was in the air. 

 

I could easily continue travelling, although the next trip down south will focus more on the deep south as we have pretty much done the rest of the island. There are however still some places we visited this time where I could have stayed a little while longer…..

 

So that ends this blog!

 

Bye bye Picton and our holiday