North Island to South Island

February 4

We wake up on time and make it out of the hotel by 7:00 which should put us into Wellington at exactly the right time.  We eat a meager breakfast, and somehow manage to pack all of our belongings back into our suitcases/backpacks.  We have to turn in our car before we board the ferry boat and we will pick up a new car on the other side.  The Ferry ride should be around 3 hours out in the open waters before arriving in Picton at the north of the South Island. We arrive in Wellington and search for the correct ferry wharf before we find it and park our car and attempt to unpack it.  We have scraped a couple of median cones en route to Wellington and see that they have left some marks on the side of the car…..not sure what that is going to cost us.  We check in and wait in the lobby.  We get our boarding passes and ask the attendant for any suggestions on what to do and see in the south.  He spends around 30 minutes detailing the best sites to see and places to go with kids.  He writes on our map and even prints out information on his computer for us.  We return the rental car and hold our breath while we wait to see if the scratches are a problem…..and….they are.  We will have to deal with it on the other side since the boat is starting to board.  We settle into our seats and enjoy a leisurely ride and before we know it we arrive.  We disembark and search out our Avis car rental counter where we find out we have to fill in an accident report for the car we returned in Wellington.  It is rainy and yucky outside and once we complete all the paperwork, we venture on to our new car.  This car is much too small for our bodies and luggage to fit into, so I return to the counter to see if we can exchange it for a larger car. Yes, of course we can……but we must upgrade to a larger and more expensive car.  After we pay the $$$, we can get the larger car and head out.  We stop briefly at the information counter and are able to find a place to stay about 2 ½ hours up a long and winding road to a town called Richmond.  We are told that they are filming the movie “The Hobbit” with Orlando Bloom and we should stop at a place called Pelorus Bridge to get ice cream.  We drive inland and the kids are immediately nauseous from the twists and turns…we stop frequently to try to settle the upset stomachs in the backseat.  Then, we remember that we have some dramemine which takes effect within about 30 minutes and the next thing we know the kids are all asleep in the back.  We travel all the way to Nelson, stopping to have ice cream in Pelorus Bridge. We wake up the kids for that event after which they nod off again.  We stop by a grocery and pick up essentials before arriving at our Holiday Top 10 in Richmond.  We get settled in and I make us a pot of soup for this kind of weather.  We watch TV and are off to bed.