Welcome to the South Island

Left windy Wellington on the 8:25AM ferry to Picton on the South Island. All went like clockwork, thanks Denise!

The ferry trip was sunny and smooth and took a little over 3 hours across the Cook Straits. The ferry is a car, truck and passenger ferry and had a fair amount of people, some trucks stuffed with cattle and a really good looking '58 Chevy Bel Air on board.

The South Island lived up to our every expectation as we entered Queen Charlotte Sound on the way to Picton with stunning scenery (picture above).

Picked up the rental car and drove to our B&B in Blenheim, about a 30 minute drive.

We arrived early and went into town, a town of about 30,000 people for lunch. Checked in and then went for a walk along the Taylor river back into town to get some sunscreen for my bald head.

After returning to the B&B we spent a very nice 4 hours downing a couple bottles of local wine , eating nibbles and talking to our hosts, Brian and Bridgette, on the back patio. A very nice evening.

Some observations:

You can acually see stars at night here. Blenheim, all 30,000 people of it, is the largest city for the next 60 miles or so.

Nice parade of vintage 60's Mustangs on the way from Picton to Blenheim.

They not only drive on the wrong side of the street here, the steering wheel is on the wrong side as is the turn signal indicator. I signaled several left turns by turning the windshield wipers on.