NZ Day 6: Christchurch to Wellington

This was a travel day as we move from the South Island to the North. It was a welcome change of pace with a variety of modes of transportation and plenty of scenery.

It was a 6am start for a taxi to the train station. I’m sure I ordered an Uber for four but the one that showed up only had seats for three passengers, so Bailey and Janet headed off. I quickly learned you cannot order two Ubers at the same time, and we were just trying to install the app on Samuel’s phone when a taxi drove by slowly and responded to my hail.

We arrived at the station in time for the 6:40 check in, with our big suitcases checked all the way through to Wellington via the train and boat. We settled into our comfortable seats and enjoyed some breakfast. I got an email from Hertz, closing out the rental, confirming they’d got the car which was a relief!

For the next five hours, a wide variety of landscapes whizzed by. We joked about how many bad photos we would have, but here are a few that try to capture the journey.

When we hit the shore a bit south of Kaikoura, we were treated with seeing several pods of dolphins jumping out of the water, and I apologize for our photos below!

The train had not been going very fast, about the speed of traffic, but then we stopped for a while. They told us that a car had crashed into some rail equipment and the signals were affected by a power outage. We continued to chill and nap and watch the world go by, but learned that our delay put us at risk of catching the ferry! We didn’t stress.

Instead of taking the train all the way to the ferry terminal at Picton, we got off at Blenheim where a coach took us to the port. As it happened, we had plenty of time and were soon on board, and then sailing to Wellington. The kids were impressed by the size of the ship and thought it was more like a cruise! It’s a 3.5 hour crossing with the Cook Straight separating the islands by about fifteen miles. As the straight separates the Tasman Sea from the Pacific Ocean, the seas are often rough, but it was smooth this day with a swell less than three feet.

The first leg of the ferry journey involved winding through the inlets close to Picton.

Then we sailed into the strait, and a returning ferry helps show the scale. We could just see the North Island as we left the South Island.

It was fun watching the land get larger as we approached Wellington.

After being greeted by a black swan, retrieving our bags, and getting our rental car from Hertz, we headed to our hotel which was on a hill overlooking the city centre. We sensed a different vibe in the city. Parts of it seemed like a big city like Houston, but it was quiet and seemed laid back. This was confirmed by our dinner. We chose simple pub grub that was close by. They had a stone grill steak where they bring a raw steak to you on a very hot volcanic rock, and you cook it yourself. And they had a special with two-for-one. While we had seen similar specials on the train and assumed it was to get rid of excess food after the Christmas break, we did not see it coming for some very fine steak! Each of us enjoyed it very much , with the challenge being to eat it quick enough before it cooked more than you wanted (typically medium rare).

We stopped at a grocery store to grab some breakfast items, and one shelf told me that we weren’t in the USA!

As we climbed the hill to our room, we looked up and could see where we were staying. We look forward to a restful night.

This page is part of our New Zealand trip set of posts