Leaving
Picton was hard and easy at the same time. Picton by itself is pretty much only
of relevance due to the ferry and the access to the Sounds. But unless you have
a motorboat on hand or do the Queen Charlotte Track (preferred by mountain bike
as I personally would consider it to boring to walk its whole distance. In the off-season it is possible to ride its whole distance -a tough one day trip. Unfortunately we did not yet make it due to bad weather in the past years) there
is nothing of interest there. Though some love the remoteness of the secluded
sounds. Thus leaving Picton was easy, but at the same time we were NI bound. A
necessity in our travel plan that Ines insisted on. About nine out of ten
people we talked to, did see no necessity to go to the NI. I am one of the nine
and something very surprisingly has to happen to change my personal opinion
(you can even call it prejudgment). E.g. a 13lbs rainbow or a bubble-bath in
Hawke’s Bay red. Thus I will keep the report on NI brief till this happens.
The ferry
(Interislander) was in a more than average corroded status usually encountered
on such ferries. A sever emergency case would probably end with a couple of
hundred causalities as the emergency equipment did look rather in the need of
some service, I was surprised to see it like that. The cruise was sunny but boring. Even the sounds
passed during the first hour provide only little distraction. The only
alternation on the ferry was a very funny couple of elderly retarded German
tourists providing unasked advice what to do with tired Tobias. I just silently
walked up to them, staying on their side and saying rather friendly
“Entschuldigung. Klugscheisser!” which can be translated to “Excuse me. Smart
ass!” He looked very silly with his Alaska Anchorage cap shield on the back and
a mustache. He reminded me slightly on my former chemistry teacher.
Wellington.
We found a cheap but ok hotel (Mercur / Ibis) downtown and had a stroll at night. Unfortunately
after the clock change the sunset is now around six-something, leading to pitch
dark and kind of winter-depression mood around 7pm. Wellington is a rather
large city with lots of traffic, traffic lights, tall buildings – a huge
contrast to lovely Nelson. The beauty some assign to Wellington – I could not
discover it. There are some nice corners but that it is pretty much. Do not
spend too much time in Wellington and avoid trouble with the rigorous enforced
parking laws. The next morning we had a short walk to learn the difference
between cheapish Kathmandu outdoor clothing and high end Patagonia: Kathmandu
deteriorates after weeks and they have no customer oriented warranty to cover
that. Once again: ‘You get what you pay for’ and ‘Quality remains long, after
the price is forgotten.’ (I have to add and stress that Kathmandu Wellington
did not behave customer oriented, later during the trip we went to the
Kathmandu store in Auckland and the lady there was very friendly and exchanged
the jacket even without any proof of purchase! Still it is strange for a Jacket
of that kind to separate after around eight weeks) (Further annotation concerning Kathmandu: their regular prices are fake-prices, for this level buy patagonia or Arc'teryx. Reduced at 40-60% Kathmandu is an option for the one or other item.)
Later cable car to the
botanic gardens (the outside areas look a little bit un-serviced and wild) and
feeding the ducks at the pond before the green house. A small greenhouse with
plants of which some had fascinating leave structures, patterns and colours.
Leaving
Wellington the MOST boring drive of the whole trip followed: Going north on the
HW 1 towards Taihape. We encountered around five police cars (might be they
expect some attack), thus there was no way to go at the preferred travel speed. The landscape becomes acceptable not before close
to Taihape. Acceptable – nothing more. There we ended in an ok-Motel between
the road and the rail with a (again) not working ZenBu internet access.
This whole
NI-travelogue will be very critical – I warn you!
