On the second day of our trip, we got up early at our campground in Picton and went to catch the ferry. We sailed on the Bluebridge line, and our ferry was to leave at 7:45, so we needed to check in by 6:45. We made sure to be there early, and took our breakfast along with us. Some ate in the van while we waited, after we had our family worship time, and some ate on the ferry later. We had a pretty smooth sailing. There was enough rolling when we were on the open ocean that my head felt very dizzy, but it wasn’t too bad. The scenery was gorgeous while we were going through the Marlborough Sounds!
This was soon after we left Picton. We had spent the night at a campground near the bay to the left of this picture where the marina is; Picton harbor is to the right of the point of land in the middle.
One of the Interislander ferries. We followed it all the way to Picton, and passed two others going the opposite direction.
This was likely a mussel or oyster farm. There are a lot of them in the Sounds.
Reaching the open ocean! The Interislander is out of the Sounds in this picture.
We spent a little while on the viewing platform at the bow of the ship, but it was so windy that we went inside after awhile.
Nearing Wellington. There are a lot of windmills around to generate electricity!
I think this is the Baring Head lighthouse at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
Wellington
Here is a video I put together of clips from that trip, including driving onto the ferry.
This next group of pictures are from our return trip, a week and a half later. We traveled on the Bluebridge line again, but on their other ship. Again, we caught a morning sailing, arriving at the docks just before sunrise.
While we were waiting to board, we could see the Beehive, our country’s Parliament building.
Our last view of Wellington! After this, we stayed inside most of the time. This boat didn’t have the nice viewing decks that the other one did, and the wind was fierce.
We passed this cruise ship as we were leaving Wellington Harbour. Two tugboats were on the way to guide it to the dock.
There was one viewing deck that was pretty sheltered, so I spent time there with the little girls at various times. The wave the ship made cutting through the water was fascinating!
Gayle also spent time outside with the girls. Here Gayle and Miss Joy are peeking in at us!
Back into the Sounds! Little Miss and I spent most of the rest of the trip here on this deck, enjoying the gorgeous day.
Lots of seagulls there!
The wake of our ship as we turned around a point in the Sounds to head into Picton.
Looks like you had a really nice day for a crossing! The Sounds are so beautiful! I think the farm you saw in the video clip was a salmon farm, they have a few out there, have a lot of fences and things around it to keep out the hungry seals.
I wondered about that. Thank you!