Friday
From New Plymouth to Wellington, wide flat plains with the mountains in the distance. And hedge rows, they're everywhere.
We stayed just outside Wellington at Moana Lodge. It was awesome. Wish I could have stayed longer. Just the most lovely set of rooms; kitchen, dining, living, bedroom with a sea view and back patio. I could have spent all day there and at the beach out front.
Saturday
Ferry crossing
The crossing was picturesque and when you stepped outside, amazingly windy. I had to hold on to Mick and the wind practically took him off the ground. Mick thought it was so fun, like an amusement park ride. He was kicking and smiling and doing this groaning thing he does when he's having fun. He was wound up by that wind and he couldn't get that energy out fast enough. So adorable and so unexpected.
The water in the Cook Strait was a beautiful green-blue. I hope it comes out in the pictures. The final highlight off the crossing was finding Tommy and James coconut ice cream. Absolutely superb! The one I tried was vanilla bean flavor and it was smooth and light with no trace of the coconut. Well done! If you see this brand anywhere you should check it out, whether you're vegan or not. It's simply the best.
Picton to Nelson to Abel Tasman
We went "overseas" today to the south island. The south island at first seems much greener. There are so many fruit trees and grapevines in Marlborough. Farther on, sheep farms and the occasional deer farm. Still seems strange to farm deer, but they say it's common here. I suppose there must also be a market for deer meat, though i can't say I've seen it on the menu.
At a rest stop, it smells like sandalwod, like it often did in many parts of the north island. The vegetation in the south island seems less tropical than the north island. I guess that makes sense since on the north island it's supposedly summer year round, but the south island is not. The fernery does seem to return when closer to the ocean but it's still less.
When they said New Zealand was the 'land of the long white cloud', I thought they meant one particular long cloud over a mountain range or something that everyone could see from everywhere a lot of the time. But in fact, there is a new long white cloud everyday in all sorts of places all over New Zealand. It's really cool and of course it makes a lot more sense.
We arrived at our accommodation at 9:40 in the evening, so it will be a surprise for us in the morning what the surrounding countryside looks like.
