Masterton to Nelson

July 17, 2009

The sleep out was such a nice place to sleep. I was toasty warm, the bed was comfortable and it was perfect. I slept so well that I ‘slept in’ until 8:30 am. I think I’m finally adjusting to NZ time. I return in less than two weeks so it’s just in time, right? I got up and got ready, in time to have Raven tell me that she had to run an errand in town and for me to pack the car. I paused a moment and followed her out, to which she replied that I couldn’t actually pack the car because she was taking it. LOL. She returned and I did help pack the car and had a quick breakfast (brekkie in Kiwi) before we headed back on the road to our next adventure.

We drove back to Wellington and got to the Wellington Ferry Terminal. We have decided to head to Nelson first so we’re staying at the Nelson YHA at least tonight and maybe tomorrow night as well. As I write this post, I am on the ferry next to Raven. We don’t have internet access so I’m writing this in Word and I’ll post it when I can. The crossing is considered “Moderate”, which is rougher than it was last time I crossed. As I write this, there is an alarm going off. Luckily, they warned us a few minutes ago that it was about to happen. Otherwise, it would be pretty scary. Poor Raven is susceptible to seasickness but she’s holding her own so far. We’re about to approach the tip of the South Island and when we do, I’m going to go and take pictures of the cliffs and waves. Woohoo! I’ll try to post more later.

UPDATE: So we got off the ferry and headed towards Nelson, along Queen Charlotte Drive, which happens to be a very windy, typical NZ road and unfortunately, it was at dusk. Even so, Raven did an admirable job navigating along, even with moments where the driver in front of us decided to drive in the lane with oncoming traffic. Somehow we survived. It got even more interesting when not only were we driving on a narrow road, it was FOGGY! The view was spectacular but there was no way we'd stop. We listened to Half Blood Prince and made it safely into Nelson.

We stayed at the YHA in Nelson. We got our room and headed out for dinner, deciding on a pizza place mentioned in the Lonely Planet. Arleigh went traditional, getting some ham and pineapple thing. I opted for the non-traditional, taking a chance on lamb, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes and yogurt. We were both happy with our decisions and can I say that my pizza was yummy? Good, because it was.

We headed back to our room and discovered that we couldn't connect to the internet. My computer kept displaying the blue screen of death, being a PC and all. Raven just couldn't log on. Meh. We gave up and went to bed.