Day 40 – Wellington to Kaiteriteri, SOUTH ISLAND!

We needed to be at the bus stop just down the road by 7am… why do all these buses mean I have to be awake from 6?! After stopping at a few hostels to pick up the rest of the coach we made our way to the ferry terminal, as today is the day we leave the north island and make our way over to the south island!

The ferry was supposed to leave at 9am but didn’t start moving until 9.45, the journey took just over 3 hours meaning we arrived in Picton just before 1pm. This ferry was like a plane as you checked in your luggage and had to collect it at a conveyer belt at the other end, which was chaos! The journey across wasn’t too bad and some of the views were stunning.

We didn’t have a driver come over with us so we were meeting a new one on the other side. Our new driver is called Gary who so far has been the best one yet. The bus is also the best one we’ve been on, so far so good for the south island.

From Picton we drove down the road to a fudge shop and a winery. Some people got the chance to go wine tasting whilst the rest of us chilled out in the sun, as lets be honest, there wasn’t really a lot of it in the North, apart from in Auckland.

We slowly made our way through the forest and mountains and eventually arrived in Kaiteriteri. To make the small amount of time there worthwhile Kirsty, Francesca and I decided to go on the short beach walk to check out some viewing platforms and golden sands. Slightly gutted the ferry was delayed and we arrived late, as it would have been really nice to relax on one of the beaches.

For dinner I ate my leftovers from the night before and then we all caught an early night, as I have to be up for something VERY exciting in the morning!!!

Day 6 - Perth.

My flight didn’t land in Perth until just gone 1am which meant by the time I was out, collected my luggage, met Michael and drove back to his we didn’t get in until about 3am! Passport control was nothing like you see in those TV shows and because I went through some special machine with my electronic passport I didn’t get a stamp!! I shall have to remember this for future airports, stamps are very important.

Perth is +4 hours from Dubai, which means it is +8 hours from the UK. My body is well and truly frazzled, so I slept until about midday. Once awoken and fed we made our way into the city. After a short walk around we ended up in Northbridge in a café called ‘Little Willy’s’. I’ve decided that I am going to try a lot of new things on this trip and so after looking at the menu I bought an Iced tea (something I’ve never tried), which I enjoyed very much! I think I may be purchasing a few of these over the next few months just to survive this crazy weather! Michael had work that evening so when he went there, I went to meet his mum in a pub called The Moon & Sixpence. I spent the evening with her and a couple of people she worked with drinking white wine, something else I don’t really do, and eating some standard pub grub.