Jan 6: Sailing Across the Cook Strait, Wine & the Centre of New Zealand

Thursday morning had us up and out the door early to catch the 8:30am voyage of the Interislander, one of the two ferries that take people, cars, trucks, and even livestock (pics below) back and forth across the Cook Strait between New Zealand's North and South Islands.

We've done the voyage once before, and on a beautiful day, it's great to sit outside.  Sadly, our day was a bit gray and drizzly, so we only made short trips outside to catch the views, see how the cows and sheep were doing, and take pictures of each other.

Cows!

Sheep!  Don't think about where you're going...just enjoy the ride.

Mijin, Katie & Jim

Four hours later, we landed in Picton on the South Island, and since our drive to Nelson was short, we opted to stop at a winery that the owners of Katie and Jim's bed and breakfast had recommended - Allan Scott.  We tasted some delicious wines (just ask Katie and Jim who are transporting a case back to the States with them) and had a scrumptious lunch at their cafe.

The weather began to clear as we got closer and closer to Nelson, and when we arrived, the sun had decided to peek out for a couple hours.  Your friendly neighborhood klutz (yours truly) fell off a two inch curb in Wellington and twisted my ankle pretty badly, so I stayed at the backpackers and caught up on blogging with my foot up while the rest of the group met up with Vanessa and Graham and hiked up to the geographic Centre of New Zealand which just happens to be located in Nelson.

Todd swallowing the Centre of New Zealand pointer

Post-trek and blogging, they picked me up and we headed over to Vanessa's brother Matt's house for dinner.  Matt is a chef, so we knew we were in for a treat.  Smoked salmon, salad, and a dessert of fresh fruit later, we were stuffed and completely satisfied.  Thank you, Matt!!!