Two Men and a Boat!

So far on my travels there are very few places that look so striking in the night as they do in the day. My first experience of this was in Prague a couple of years ago. I couldn't take my eyes off Charles Bridge and the way the lights under its arches bathed it in yellow light - was just amazing.

The other is Wellington. Well that was what I was thinking as I jogged along Oriental Drive at 6.15 in the morning, admiring the harbour and listening to the waves lap against the beach, straining my eyes to try and locate where we had parked Bertha the previous day. I admit I stopped a couple of times and looked back on the city and the port and again it looked amazing. I think this will go down as one of my favourite cities outside of the UK.

Anyway, I found the car and drove it rather quickly back to where Richie was waiting with our bags. Car packed, we headed to the ferry terminal and our transport to the South Island. He was a little nervous and kept going on about "ten foot swells" and the like. Man, the guy doesn't like travelling on many modes of transport!

The journey across the water was rather uneventful - apart from it being quite windy when I decided to join my travelling companion on the top deck. Saying that, as we came into Picton a pod of dolphins did come up along side us. It was hardly a game of "chicken" but it was great to see these mamals swimming in the wild, free and doing their own thing.

After we had disembarked we turned onto Queen Charlottes track and the views we experienced were amazing; it made the journey to our hostel in Nelson fly by.

We're going to be Nelson for a couple of days before heading south to Franz Joesph.