February 13, 2008 - Picton, South Island

After breakfast, we called up our friends on Phoenix, who we knew were either on top of the South Island or somewhere around Wellington, at the southern tip of the North Island. It turned out that they were in Wellington, so we spent the day hanging out with them on their boat and at Te Papa, the excellent national museum in Wellington. We spent some time at Te Papa looking at the stuffed birds, so that we can put names to them if we happen across any of them on our travels. Although, it is quite likely that the only kiwi we see in New Zealand will be the stuffed variety. They are nocturnal, flightless and increasingly rare. So, unless we spend quite a lot of time snuffling around in the bush at night, we aren't likely to run across any.

We hopped aboard the 8pm ferry across to the South Island. There were only about 12 passengers on a ferry that can hold 1600. It was bit disconcerting, but somehow reassuring - who has ever heard of a ferry accident that involved a ferry carrying anything less than its maximum capacity? We landed in Picton a little after 11pm and made our way over to the hostel where we had reserved a double room. This double came with linens and towels, and the manager explained that there would be fresh bread in the morning. Once again, the bathroom was shared, and this time it was in a different building. It is an improvement over peeing in a bucket in the boat yard, but I'm really looking forward to having my own bathroom and shower some night soon.