December 5 - New Zealand: Picton (South Island) to Hamilton (North Island)
Today is our 3-year wedding anniversary. So what did we do? We drove.
And drove.
And drove.
And drove.
We woke up at 7:00 to get up and pack, but first we had to wait for the rain to let up. When it changed from a pour to a drizzle, we made our ways to the bathrooms and the kitchen. After enjoying a veggie omelet we then packed up one very wet tent.
The Ferry
Our ferry to the North Island left at 10:00AM, but remember that this is a monopolistic business so all the work must be done by the customers. So we had to get there at 9:00 and wait for an hour for them to get their acts together and marshall us onto the ferry. Jon boarded with the passengers to get us a good seat near an electrical outlet for the laptop, and I drove the car on board.
Our Little Red Mazda on the Ferry
Weather was pretty bad for the entire 3-hour ride. (We were on "The Interislander" which is a slower vessel than than its sister "The Lynx" which we took 2 weeks ago.) So I napped while Jon updated all his running journals. If you go back a few weeks and into November, you'll find his new write-ups for each appropriate day.
Nothing terribly exciting on the ferry. When we arrived in Wellington, we immediately found Highway 1 and began our long drive north.
The Drive
Nothing exciting about the drive, either. It was long and rainy. The original plan was to go to Taupo and finally do the ill-fated skydive that we had to postpone a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the weather didn't look much more promising. It wasn't raining ALL the time, but there were about 80% clouds which doesn't make for a nice view at high altitudes. So we drove straight through Taupo and continued on.
Our destination is the "Bay of Islands", which is one of the northern-most parts of the North Island. Of course, we knew we wouldn't make it there tonight but we hope to get there soon tomorrow. So we wanted to get a significant amount of driving behind us today.
So that's all we did. We drove.
Here's something exciting. A plane painted like a chocolate-chip cookie. You'll note the blue skies above it. This was toward the end of the drive.
Hamilton
We reached Hamilton around 8:00PM to beautiful sunny skies and warm weather. Just like it was when we left here nearly 3 weeks ago. We went to the same campsite (The Municipal Motor Camp) we stayed at last time as it was very nice and close to town. But because it was late and we were hungry, we elected against setting up the tent and arranged for a standard cabin instead.
Then we went to Burger Planet to get some burgers to go. We brought dinner back to our cabin and ate in front of the television, just in time for the last episode of "Band of Brothers". What an incredible series that is. I really can't wait to get home and watch it all again. Seriously. Why is it that WWII seems so noble and well-fought (pardon the oxymoron) when every war since then has been seeped in controversy and confusion? The men who fought in WWII always appear so impressive and dignified. Does the presence of the media make that much of a difference? If there had been live TV and Internet access in the 1940s, would we think of WWII in the same light as we do today?
Just a thought.