Where is that you might ask? I asked the same question when I saw it on the itinerary for the Magic bus that I’m taking around New Zealand.

Well, Picton is a tiny town on the north end of the South Island that is one end of the interislander ferry route. The ferry takes about 3 hours to do the crossing from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the south. I came at it a little bit different way though. The tickets for the ferry were about $50NZ one way, you can also fly for $71NZ(if you’re on the Magic bus, $89 otherwise).

Perfect. I like flying, I’ll get to see the Cook Straight from a different perspective and it only takes 20 minutes. They offer a shuttle to the ferry terminal to hook up with the Magic bus so that’s sorted. It was all going perfectly to plan until just before we board.

The planes not going to Picton airport any more, it’s too windy.

It’s going to Blenheim. Umm, where’s Blenheim….and there’s a lot of wind?

Fortunately they had already arranged a shuttle bus from Blenheim, which is 20 minutes from Picton, to the ferry terminal. And as for the wind…. the ride was a little bumpy but not bad at all.

As I write this I’ve got about an hour to go before the ferry gets in and the bus leaves but I’m grateful for the relaxing wait. I can chill, listen to some tunes, get some writing in and watch the locals drive around in the water with their vans.

[gmap]