Windy Wellington and the journey to South Island

Day 6-7:Wellington - Picton - Nelson - Murchison

The next morning, we set out from Taihape to Wellington - a 3.5 hr drive. Wellington is a nice-sized city, smaller and more manageable than Auckland, built around several hills. The city is also the departure point for the ferries to South Island which was where we were heading. Arriving late morning, it was windy and cloudy but thankfully no rain. It seemed that Wellington gets its fair share of wind, the two islands in effect creating a wind tunnel, causing ferry crossings to be cancelled occasionally.

After we had secured our accommodation, we headed to the Te Papa museum (free entry). This is one of the best museums in New Zealand with lots of interactive exhibits. Later, that evening, we took the tram car up to the Botanical Garden to see the view of Wellington. Those of you that have been on the Peak Tram in Hong Kong will be very disappointed. The Wellington tram is nowhere near as steep or climbs as high as the Peak Tram.

Day 7 and we were crossing over to the South Island! It was a little windy still but we had brilliant sunshine - the 3 hour ferry crossing was another highlight of the trip. There was lots of comfortable seating areas, a cafe and shops in the ferry but most people were on the deck with their cameras. Leaving Wellington and approaching the South Island via Marlborough Sounds was like leaving ugly civilisation and arriving in nature nirvana. The South Island is sparsely populated (holding only a quarter of NZ's population), more mountainous with more varied scenery.

We arrived at the little town of Picton where we picked up our new rental car (upgraded model) and started our journey to Nelson. Most tourists go to Nelson for the beautiful beach scenery, posh restaurants and Mediterrean atmosphere. Indeed, it all looked lovely but I was heading to the tiny Jens Hansen workshop - the NZ jewellers commissioned by Peter Jackson to make the "Ring". Well, in fact, they made over 40 different rings, in all shapes and sizes for the filming purposes. You could of course buy your very own "Ring" but the prices were eye-watering. I settled for a nice photo instead - yes, I was holding up another couple's purchase.

We were heading off to Punakaiki the next day so Paul drove a little further down the west coast for our place to stay. We ended up again in the middle of nowhere - a sleepy settlement called Murchison. At night, the village was so quiet with no light pollution. At one point, we went outside to get something in the car. We had never seen stars like this before! Not just a few bright stars but whole constellations and swirls of stars, crystal clear. As if we were visiting a planetarium. Well, I guess it doesn't take much to impress city folks. But having said that, I'm sure very few of the world's population will see such a night sky in this day and age. After a few minutes of nature-inspired awe, we went back in to watch American Idol.