Today was the day, we had to go to the other
island :( We like the South Island... a lot. There was so much more for us to
explore, but we are unfortunately on the fast track, so it was time to go.
For some reason, the ferry did not hold much
interest for me. I took ferries before both with a car and without. People say
the move from Picton out of the Marlborough Sound is very beautiful... but I
have been to Milford and Doubtful Sound, so for some reason I was really
enthralled by that book I was reading (Thankfully, I finished it tonight and
now I am free again). Isi was having none of it and jumped around on the deck.
Maybe I should have stuck with her. She saw a sea lion playing around in the
water and a school of dolphins. I only caught a brief glimpse of them. I really
wanted to see dolphins and whales. Ah well, it wasn't meant to be...
Our arrival in Wellington was unspectacular, as
is the city, I must say... y'know, it is just another city. What struck me was
how modern it was, but we didn't investigate, as we only were there to withdraw
cash from the cash machine and then carry on. We had another 300 km to cover
before the end of our day. Our destination was Tongariru National Park in the
middle of the North Island to do the famous Alpine Crossing where we get to see
among many other things Mount Ngauruhoe aka Mount Doom. We were told by many
that this trail is pretty much overrun with tourists wanting to do it, but I
guess this is one thing where we can't avoid them. We just want to see Mount
Doom ;)
Oh, speaking of tourists, what is it with all
the Germans here in New Zealand. I think we met more Germans here in two weeks
than we did in four years in Belgium. I find it strange, annoying and sometimes
amusing. Especially, when we book tours speaking English while the person
opposite is clearly a German student working while trying to practice his English
a bit. Guess s/he is not practicing that often :D
The journey was long, uneventful and tedious.
However, when we finally arrived at the hotel, we had a little bit of luck. We
checked into our room in a hotel in a village again only made up of hotels and
enough houses to accomodate the staff of the hotels. The room had me strangely
reminiscing about my first private accomodation in Glasgow in Rupert Street. It
had enough space for a Queen Size bed and apart from that nothing else. There
was a telly on one of those holders in the top right corner of the room. When
Isi and I watched the news for the weather forecast for tomorrow (for the
Alpine Crossing, the weather is crucial), one of the legs buckled and we were
stuck with a three-legged bed. I only went to the reception to ask for a
repair. They insisted on moving us to another room. "Unfortunately",
there was a twin available (two separate single beds) and one category up.
After explaining that this is our honeymoon, we are now in a room that is about
double the price (we assume) as it is about three times the size and better
panorama.
I hope our luck won't fade after this. The
weather already looks to be rather wet for our remaining time, but after
Tongariru we chose Hamilton as our final base of operations from where we can
reach many different places without much travel.
Marlborough Sounds from the Ferry
I will miss this very typical panorama of glacier formed hills before the sea
sun glistening...
Yes!!! A better room :)
The panorama from our terrace
Looks amazing trip!! Miss you both !!!
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