Day 7 & 8 - From North to South

We woke up on Monday still pretty exhausted from our hike the previous day.  Our legs were at first only a little bit sore, but as the day progressed they got worse and worse to the point that any amount of stairs proved very challenging.  We elected to use elevators on more than one occasion.

We left National Park a bit before noon to make our way to Wellington for one night before getting on the ferry for the south island first thing the next morning.  The drive to Wellington was pretty uneventful although we were surprised while passing a semi when we saw this:

We had to slow down and let the semi pass us so we could get this pic.  It was well worth it.  So cute.

After checking into our hostel, we made our way to the Te Papa Museum which we had heard was pretty cool and even better had free admission.  The coolest thing we saw at the museum was a preserved giant squid that was caught back in 2007.  Here’s a pic:

Giant Squid.

After the museum we took a trolley which takes you up to the top of some hills that sit behind the city centre where there are a lot of residential communities.  It was awesome up there.  Sharon and I would totally live there.  Maybe when we win the lottery…here are a few pics:

Here's the trolley plus a view of the city and sea below.

Our future home???

We also found this advertisement while we were up there.  Can you guess what I'm singing (slightly modified for the weaker NZ dollar)?

To get down, we walked through the Wellington Botanical Gardens which takes you all the way back into the city centre.  The gardens were beautiful even though it was starting to get pretty dark.  The highlight of the walk wasn’t the flowers though, it was the kid’s playground we came across.  Fortunately for us since it was so late, no one else was around so we felt free to embrace our inner child.  Here are a couple videos for your enjoyment:

Tuesday morning we had to rise bright and early to catch our 8am ferry to the south island.  I took this pic while we waited to drive our car into the belly of the ship.

 The ferry was actually pretty nice.  There was a bar, café, and TV room and more than enough comfy seats to go around for the 3 hour journey.  We had heard the water can get pretty choppy so we both popped a Dramamine each and in five minutes we were both passed out only to wake up with less than an hour to go to Picton.  The highlight of the ferry ride for me was finding a bottle of Mountain Dew LiveWire soda.  Tom and I used to love this when they had it back in the U.S. but unfortunately they stopped selling it.  Tom, I poured some on the deck of the ship for you before drinking it.

We pulled into Picton right before noon and checked into our hostel which was only a few minutes away.   We grabbed some groceries and a quick bite to eat before heading out on a half-day wine tour of a selection of the numerous local wineries.

Wine country, NZ style.

We went to four different wineries and tasted on average about 6 wines at each place.  I took to the Rieslings (surprise, surprise) while Sharon was more a fan of the Pinot Noirs, and the Shiraz wines.  Sharon purchased a bottle of Shiraz which she particularly enjoyed.

"Yummy in my tummy."

At the end of the tour we were both a bit happy.  Here’s a picture of Sharon on the ride back to our hostel.  Can you spot the rabbit?

Back at the hostel, Sharon prepared a delicious feast while I blogged away.  More south island to come...