An earlier hotel departure than usual for us as we needed to check in for the Interislander Ferry from Wellington ( North Island ) to Picton ( South Island ) from 7:30 am. It’s interesting to note that the MV Kaitaki was once the Pride of Cherbourg. So it’s quite possible that we’d sailed on her before, from Portsmouth to France.

The crossing was calm the whole way. In Wellington harbour we were briefly escorted by dolphins. We didn’t spot any in the Cook Strait or Queen Charlotte Sound.

When we arrived at Picton, Susan went straight to the Car Rental Desk while I waited at the luggage carousel. Soon we were back on the open road, in a white Toyota Corolla that didn’t know about white or yellow lane lines.

We were heading for Nelson, but stopped at Havelock for a comfort break. We didn’t have anything booked for Nelson, so when we spotted the Havelock Garden Motel we thought we’d just ask if they had an vacancies. The garden was full of black kittens, nearly a dozen of them. They were extremely timid. They had a vacancy, at a very good price, and soon we were settled in. We borrowed a DVD from their collection to watch later: Lion.

Then we headed out to find out about the mail boat cruises.

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That evening we dined at The Mussel Pot, then watched the DVD.