{"id":195,"date":"2009-09-14T06:10:52","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T06:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=195"},"modified":"2020-07-28T12:06:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T02:06:50","slug":"picton-to-wellington-nz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=195","title":{"rendered":"Picton to Wellington NZ \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff"},"content":{"rendered":"

We again cruised overnight arriving at Picton at Dawn. \u00a0Picton is at the top of the north island, its harbour the departure point for the regular ferry service between the North and South Islands of NZ. \u00a0Picton is a small town, a village really, but the harbour is quite beautiful. \u00a0As we disembark the ship a welcoming party from the town meet the passengers as they walk of the dock. \u00a0Every passenger receives a flower, it’s a nice gesture.<\/p>\n

\"Picton<\/a>
Picton Harbour, NZ 2009.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I<\/a>
I somehow lost my flower, everywhere we go in NZ we are made to feel welcome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A fair is being held in the park on the waters edge. \u00a0Lots of local bits and pieces in various stalls, we wander through fairly quickly. \u00a0We head up town looking for a nice coffee, after a long walk we end up back opposite the park in a little cafe. \u00a0We had passed a couple of gift shops during our walk and Pam was keen to find something special as a memento of our trip. \u00a0We find a lovely set of ceramic symbols, which now hang framed in our living room.<\/p>\n

\"Picton<\/a>
Picton park adjacent the waterfront, NZ 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we walk back through the park the stalls have disappeared and most of the passengers have returned to the ship or disappeared in the pub. \u00a0The weather has turned cold as we walk back to the ship. \u00a0The ship departs mid afternoon and we head northeast out of the bay. \u00a0It is hours before we exit the bay and enter Cook Strait.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is near dusk and we are enjoying a drink in the bar and we feel the ship lurch slightly. \u00a0Looking out the window, we see a large whirlpool some 50 meters from the ship. \u00a0We go out on deck to see yet another. \u00a0The Captain comes over the loud speaker to comment on the strong and treacherous currents that make the Cook Straight one of the most difficult waterways in the world, depending on the tide and moon. \u00a0We ignore the odd lurch and return to our drinks and dinner. \u00a0We dock in Wellington late that evening.<\/p>\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Wellington<\/a>
Wellington Harbour, NZ. 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We awake to views of Wellington Harbour. \u00a0It’s warmed up a little as we wander along the foreshore and into the CBD. \u00a0We are looking for the cable car shown on our tourist map. \u00a0Doesn’t seem where it’s supposed to be, then we see the sign. \u00a0The cable car station is inside a building complex, there is a bit of a queue but where on our way about 15 minutes later. \u00a0The cable car passing the University on its way up the hill to a park and museum. \u00a0We wander through the museum, which displays the history of the cable car and it’s machinery. \u00a0We decide to walk back down through the park and it’s gardens and back to the city center.<\/p>\n

\"Cable<\/a>
Cable Car, Wellington, NZ. 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We coffee and have a bite to eat, then walk along the waterfront. \u00a0This area of Wellington has been extensively rebuilt or renovated. \u00a0We see school children in kayaks, a heliport with tourists taking off or returning from joy flights and people like us just wandering along.<\/p>\n

\"Waterside<\/a>
Waterside art in Wellington, NZ 2009<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The afternoon is turning a bit chilly as the wind picks up. \u00a0We make our way back to the Vollendam and afternoon drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Michael and Pam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We again cruised overnight arriving at Picton at Dawn. \u00a0Picton is at the top of the north island, its harbour the departure point for the regular ferry service between the North and South Islands of NZ. \u00a0Picton is a small town, a village really, but the harbour is quite beautiful. \u00a0As we disembark the ship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[67],"class_list":{"0":"post-195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-cruising","9":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23353,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions\/23353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}