- Kim Fox
- Jan 30, 2024
- 2 min read
I'm writing this entry from the comfort of our hotel in Christchurch NZ, on the South Island. It's Tuesday night, and yes, we left Sunday morning to get here, and it seems like all we've done is drive. Sunday morning we left the north and made it to New Plymouth (595 km). It rained the entire way. We had a great stop for lunch at a place called Hayes Common, in Hamilton. But, unfortunately I have nothing interesting to tell you about New Plymouth. We watched the men's final that night, which ended at 2:00 am our time. Go Sinner!
Monday morning, we drove from New Plymouth to Wellington (354 km) and had some sunshine along the way. The NZ roadways have the most amazing flowers planted on the shoulder (agapanthus, hydrangea, crocosmia, and red hot poker). Of course we're flying down the road and the flowers are hard to photograph. It was cold and windy in Wellington, but we found a cool pub and had a nice dinner.
Tuesday morning we caught the car ferry from Wellington to Picton. We had booked seats in a quiet lounge on the boat and had a great breakfast on board as well. There are a few photos below of the ferry, the crossing, and the south island as we arrived in Picton. We passed the sister ship in the channel, which was a mirror image of our ferry. The deer farm is right outside Picton, and we've seen more since. We drove from Picton to Christchurch (336 km) in 4 hours. The views of the ocean as you come down the coast are absolutely stunning. Inland, the landscape looks like central California. Miles of grape vines, crops, and dry, brown hills. We'll explore Christchurch on Wednesday and then we'll drive to Lake Moeraki on the west side of the South Island (491 km) on Thursday for a 2 night stay at the Wilderness Lodge.
To quote my friend Linda,"it seemed like a good idea at the time!" We should have flown from Auckland, but oh well! We're having fun exploring and it's warm, and the wine is cheap and good.
