Monday, March 13 - Linkwater to Wellington

Linkwater to Wellington - 24 km driving, 100 km ferry ride

Views from the ferry back toward Picton

So long, South Island - it's been amazing! We start out by driving the rest of the Queen Charlotte Drive to the ferry terminal in Picton - unfortunately things are very misty/rainy so the vaunted scenic views are not as impressive as they could be. Still a lovely drive though. We get to the ferry in good time and get ourselves installed - once Erik finds the kids’ room with the TV playing non-stop cartoons, that’s where we end up staying for the duration. The crossing is about 3 hours and the first hour is pretty much just getting out of the Sounds - pretty calm water and lots of beautiful scenery to enjoy. Then we’re out onto the open waters of the Cook Strait - the crew come around with cups of ice cubes for anybody whose stomach needs a little help dealing with the ocean swell. Eventually we get back into the more protected waters around Wellington harbour and everybody gets ready to meet the North Island. 

One last look at the Marlborough Sounds

Glad I'm not that guy,,,,

We park Harvey for the night in a lot in central Wellington and set out to explore. Since the weather is still not the greatest we take refuge in the Te Papa museum. Our first stop is an incredible exhibit called Bug Lab put together in collaboration with the Weta special effects workshop. The central idea is: what if bugs were intelligent enough to put together a museum exhibit explaining their world to us? The exhibits are beautifully constructed and immersive - you really do believe you’ve stepped into the insects’ world. Erik has fun with a vertical wind tunnel where you can fold paper airplanes and other origami forms and see how they fly. We also enjoy seeing the world through compound eyes, learning about how wasps turn cockroaches into zombies, and helping bees defeat a hornet by generating heat. Once we’re done bugging out we check out some of the wonderful permanent exhibits. Dominic and Erik have an epic percussion jam session on South Pacific instruments in one of the kids’ areas. We take some time to marvel at the colossal squid before heading to another kids’ corner where we create strange, Hieronymus Bosch-esque creatures with magnets and Erik drags a giant stuffed-animal penguin into a life-sized model of a blue whale heart (which he names the "Whale Pod”). At the museum gift shop we pick up a book for Erik of stories involving the iconic NZ kids’ toy Buzzy Bee - it will become a firm favourite for bedtime reading for the rest of the trip.

Bug Lab at Te Papa museum

Fun with aerodynamics

Colossal squid!!

Magnet silliness at Te Papa

The Whale Pod!

A friendly Cuba Street lizard

After the museum we wander up to Pizzeria Napoli on Courtenay Place and have some delicious pizza on the patio while watching the city life go by. We’ve really enjoyed the last few days exploring more sparsely populated parts of South Island but Dominic and I both agree that it feels good to be back in a city. After dinner we take a wander along Cuba Street - past the funky Bucket Fountain sculpture and other cool pieces of street art - and get a feel for the life of the city. We stop outside a Viking-themed bar called Valhalla and the boys have a good Norse war yell. I’m wearing my blue “Smurf” volunteer jacket from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and at one point a guy stops us to chat - he’s a Kiwi who was living in Vancouver at the time and also volunteered, mainly at the athletes’ village. We briefly reminisce together about that incredible experience. Amazing how small the world is sometimes. We end our wander with a stop at the Countdown grocery store for some more supplies and then head back to Harvey for a surprisingly quiet and peaceful night.

Viking dudes!!