In my last post I was still in Wellington. On Monday 21st December I took the InterIslander Ferry to Picton. Enjoyed the YHA in Wellington-very up market and big and quiet too! I had a large room on the 6th floor, all carpeted!
Ferry was interesting. I'd never been on a large ferry like this: the check-in was just the same as at an airport and the bags went on a carousel. I somehow thought bags would be lying everywhere! Took three hours, departing 8:25 and arriving 11:35. Although there were lots of people and cars, the process of embarking and disembarking was very smooth and I had picked up my hire car by 12:15. Felt a bit travel sick as we went through the Cook Straits.
I was going to stay in Nelson, only an hour from Picton, but with a good weather forecast in the mountains I changed the booking to Arthur's Pass and drove the 444kms here yesterday afternoon. Although it took 6.5 hours, it was a pleasant run through very varied scenery. Leaving Picton I drove along the Wairau River valley, through large estates of vines, before entering the mountains around Nelson Lakes. I hit the West coast at Greymouth around 5ish, and the drove the final leg through a narrow valley into Arthur's Pass. The high point is 900m and the village is at about 730m. I have great accommodation in the YHA. It's my own little chalet place - there are lots of little wooden houses around the village, some built to house the tunnelers when they were building the railroad through the pass in the early 20th century; and others for former railway employees.
In my next post I will tell the world about the horrible kea (wretched parrots-I heard one just this minute!) and the quirky few shops in the village. Arthur's Pass village is a tiny place, mainly for walkers.
Bye for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment