January 5

Today it was up at 0640, a cup of tea, breakfast (which was weetbix with Vegemite) and then a shower. The usual procedure followed as I dressed, packed, checked that nothing was left, and finally unpacked the car into bags except for the SatNav.
We were off by 0800and out of the carpark, onto the streets of Wellington and nearly ready to leave. We firstly drove to a Shell service station to refuel, then headed into Ezi-Rent to drop the car off. After it was checked for damage (none), we were run around to the InterIslander Terminal in it.
We were dropped off at the InterIslander Terminal about 0850 and quickly checked the bags in (my strap was now on Fran’sbag as it had lost the handles).
We waited in Terminal and chatted to aman from England who had been to Australia for a visit, met up his wife in Auckland and they were now going over to the South Island. Fran chatted with Belgium couple from Singapore.
The call to embark came at about 1010 and, once on board, we settled on seats with a table on Deck 7 for viewing and comfort. Before the ship left, we were joined by couple from Carterton (New Zealand) who had run a supermarketthere, but were now retired..
The trip over was very smooth. I had a pie and then chips for lunch while Fran had yoghurt and then a ham and salad roll.
We arrived in Picton at 1330 and were meet by a representative from Ezi-Rent. Fran stayed at the terminal with the luggage while I was run down to office with two others (one woman from Sydney and one man from England). In a relatively quick procedure, I got the car (this time a Nissan Pulsar sedan) and was back to the terminal in a minute or so (it was just down the road) to pick up Fran and luggage. She had been chatting to the husband of the woman who had gone to get their car, and the husband had been laying down the law to the children (enjoy this holiday or else!), and after a quick load up (room okay in the bood, but not as easy to load as the back of the Diahatsu). We went off to the hotel, booked in and left our luggage there. We drove along Queen Charlotte Drive to Nelson, had a look around at ChristChurch there and walked around the town, checking the shops and sights. We had an ice cream at McDonald’s as, during our walk, there was nowhere else open with ice creams..
We drove back along the coast to Picton. We shopped at the supermarket for supplies and got fush and chups (I just had to write in New Zealandese) for tea at a little place just over the road.
We took them back to the motel and ate tea outside, read outside for a time and then inside as the sun set. There were too many cars out the front, so I had to park at the side – good for foot access, but not good for loading the luggage in the morning. I processed the photos, wrote a simplified blog (intending to flesh it out later, not realising how much later that would be) and then prepared for bed. I didn’t use the Internet – too expensive (and limited), so was soon in bed and to sleep.