Blenheim > Picton > Wellington > Lower Hutt
Sounds epic, but the drive to Picton was just a hop, and Lower Hutt is just overspill from Wellington, really... although as for the bit in the middle...
When we chose last night's site we were offered either a field (which looked like something left over from Glastonbury) or a carpark-like area near the railway line - we chose the carpark...
...not only was there an awful karaoke blasting into the night in the culture low-spot that is Blenheim, but also the freight trains like to test their fog horns when passing campsites. There were three trains in the night - I know I was awake for all of them. And then the football started at 6.30am. Yes, we were surrounded by about 30 kids playing soccer in the carpark!!! James enjoyed the show, anyway, although we were sufficiently 'inspired' into leaving early that we were in Picton in time for the earlier ferry back to the North Island.
The worrying sign was probably that we couldn't actually see the ferry, just a radar spiining round over the buildings. And then we twigged: this time we were on the Lynx, a fast catarmaran, rather than the juggernaut Interislander. And I really did think that the loaders were joking when they directed me to reverse our campervan up the ramp into the cargo hold... but managed it easily enough, anyway!
So were set off through the sheltered bays towards the Cook Strait, and still didn't think about the twin-hulled business until the Captain warned us that we were going to hit some high seas - so James and I kept playing on the toys, and left Catherine reading her book. And then it started, roll after roll after roll. Crash! Roll! James started to look unwell, everyone else seemed to reaching for the sick bags... so I carried him back to Mummy (who had also gone green), and eventually just had to lie him on a cushion on the floor, and just stroked him till he fell asleep. It was awful - and I didn't even get to see any whales this time.
 
Wellington was pretty much as we remembered it, and so we had some 'isotonic' beer from the Wellington Brewery before taking a howling little boy around Te Papa, the NZ museum on the waterfront - what we managed to see, in between keeping James out of trouble, was great anyway. James did require an outfit change after trying to climb into the fountain.
 
Dinner was at a Malaysian restaurant, and Catherine and James went to stock up on food and beer essentials whilst I found a (Korean) Internet Cafe. We're now down the road in Picton, and this is the earliest that it's been all quiet on the top bunk!
9:06:17 PM 
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