New Zealand Day 6: From the Ferry to Waipukurau

Waking up in Nelson was another extremely early morning for us. I don't recall the exact time, but for some reason I think that departing the B&B at 7 was the plan, and so we met for breakfast at 6:30 in the little dining room. The food provided by the B&B was alright, but it really paled in comparison to what we'd been eating for the last two days at Awaroa Lodge.

While we were eating, I noticed that the B&B had a neat looking old radio tuned to a local station. I took a closer look at it, and realized that it was a modern reproduction of a neat old radio. That took its "neat" cred down several notches, but it planted an idea in my head that would eventually culminate in my getting a snazzy old tube radio for my office.

Distractions aside, we were in our car and on the road right around the scheduled time. We had consulted with the innkeeper on the best route to take back to Picton. She assured us that, although it appeared four times longer on the map, it was actually quicker to take the roads to the south of Mount Richmond Forest Park.

We departed, following her advice and the road. Indeed, it did end up being fast, probably faster than taking the much more scenic Queen Charlotte Drive that I mentioned in day 3.

Oh, it's You Again, Lynx

We arrived at the ferry in plenty of time -- enough so that we had time to wander around downtown Picton for an hour before we had to get in line for the boat. Picton appeared to be a town with a tourist trade entirely based on ferry traffic. I imagine that, without the ferry, Picton would be another tiny port town serving shipping and fishermen. The ferry must have been a huge boon to the town.

Our time finally arrived, and we wound our corkscrew path into the elevated depths of the Lynx ferry. The return trip was sufficiently similar to the trip out, and we were tired enough, that we took no particular note of it. We did take advantage of the food service on the boat to stifle the onset of hunger after the relatively meagre B&B breakfast.

Return to the Introduction - Go on to Day 7

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