Goodbye to Wellington, Interislander ferry to South Island and drive from Picton to Nelson.  

Up at 5:45 to load car, clean apartment, pick up McInerneys and get to the Interisland ferry Kaitai in time. A few predictable wrong turns and … we make it in plenty of time and sit in four lanes of cars, trucks, SUVs, campers, motorcycles and drenching rain for about an hour and a half. We get on the enormous ferry, park, climb stairs and finally find a place to sit.

Cynthia and David sit in the “lookout room,” the last room in the boat, which has windows 35-feet tall, looks beyond the smokestack, and has a loft area inhabited by a school outing of twenty-plus 12-to-14-year-old girls. The space sounds like you’re in the middle of a flock of 5,000 hungry birds who have found food after a famine and must broadcast their fortune and delight.

The normally beautiful sail is almost totally obscured by rain, which abates just after we get gas in Picton on the middle of the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. We drive in a valley between two mountain ranges whose sides show serious logging and some reforestation. The long, wide valley floor supports really large vineyards, many of whose names we recognize, Cloudy Bay, Waimaru River … we’re in Marlborough where much of New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc comes from. We drive about two hours under increasingly beautiful mountains and weather and arrive in Nelson at about 3 p.m.

Another memorable meal, this time at the Cod & Lobster, outside under umbrellas at the top of Trafalger Street with a modern version of a medieval cathedral spire jutting from the top of a hill overlooking the restaurant.

Back to the hotel to pack for the five-day tramp in Abel Tasman with the “Macs” and predicted bad weather. Hope springs eternal.  Wilsons has left small duffle bags at the Cedar Grove Motor Lodge for us to pack for the trip. We can only take what fits in it and our backpacks. It takes a while to reorganize.

A loooong day in Paradise.