As we were planning this trip, I found a "mail route" tour which left from Picton in the afternoons on most days. It was the actual boat which delivered mail and packages to several families and business up and down the harbor and the Cook Strait. It had great reviews and it sounded like something we would like. However, the timing didn't quite work out for when our train arrived in Picton. So instead, I signed up for a 2 hour dolphin watching trip. We had to catch a 2:00 ferry sailing and needed to be there about one hour earlier so I was being very conservative with my planning. Then on Monday, when we did the dolphin watching, I almost canceled the Thursday trip (dolphins are not whales to me). However, Monday night I got a message saying that our tour for the dolphins didn't have enough people to go, so they were moving us to a 4 hour harbor tour for the same cost. After exchanging texts back and forth to work out our luggage storage, etc., we ended up on that tour Thursday morning--AND IT WAS AMAZING!! Even the guide and the captain of the boat mentioned several times what a special experience we had together.
There was about 20 people on the boat with one guide and the captain. Our guide was from the UK and he especially loved birds. He actually had a bird in flight tattooed on his forearm. He was great and knew so much about the birds and the animals and the area.
The dawn over the harbor as we waited to board our boat.
We saw some fluttering shearwater birds flying around the harbor as we pulled out of the dock. This was the bird our guide had tattooed on his arm. He loves them.
The King Shag
There is an old construction boat out in one of the many bays. Long since retired, it has become a favorite sunning spot for the fur seals in the area. One is sleeping on top of the red draped roof.
More colonies of King Shag
The water was so clear and smooth. The boat captain commented about that several times during the tour.
Trust me, these are blue penguins swimming in the water. My camera was not good enough to get that National Geographic shot, but watching them roll and flap in the water was a treat.
Our driver and our guide. I loved the quote on the back of their shirts: "Adventures for the Soul." How true that is when you step into nature of any kind (of course, the ocean is one of my favorites!).
In a distance, the guide caught a view of a fishing "swarm"--not sure of the exact name but where large group of fish come to the same area to feed and it causes the water to churn and ripple. This makes it a "ChuckARama" for nearby birds who fly in for an easy meal.
We headed along the coast seeing birds and the many little islands in this harbor. Our goal was to reach the Motuara Bird Sanctuary Island. In the early 1900s, all introduced pests were removed from the island and it is now home to bird species which are struggling to survive in other parts of New Zealand or have disappeared entirely. You can't carry things onto the island except a water bottle and an handheld camera. You have to wash your shoes as you leave your boat, too. We went up a little ways and spent our time at a natural bird path created from one of the springs in the area.
My green parrot sighting...Can you see him in the green leaves?
Our selfie along the path on the island
and on the boat.
Although tricky to see in this photo, there is a Hector dolphin mom with her baby swimming right by our boat...they swam around for awhile as if she was showing the baby off to us in the boat. It was quite remarkable and our guide and captain were so excited about it all. These are the smallest dolphin species in the area and maybe in the world at about 18" long. We also saw them jump a few times when they were further from the boat. It was a special time even better than seeing large amounts of the dusky dolphins earlier in the week. Nature is amazing.
We also boated through a herd of jelly fish which reminded us of scuba diving in a similar group of jelly fish in the Philippines.
After finishing our great 4 hours in the harbor, we headed over to the "Interislander," New Zealand's original Cook Strait Ferry. We have traveled on ferries before in Hong Kong and on the Puget Sound, but this boat was huge. It can carry over 200 vehicles including 18 wheelers who make the trip from one major island to the other. Many tourists will rent RVs and use the ferries to transport their RV across the strait.
A photo through the windows at one of the car decks below.
Coming into the Wellington Pier.
A short taxi ride got us to our hotel up on one of the many hills in Wellington.
It was at this hotel that we had one of our best meals of the trip. We decided to eat at the hotel's restaurant to avoid going out at night to a city we were unfamiliar. The hotel was a bit away from the main city, so it seemed to make sense.
The restaurant was busy but they found a table for two for us. The waiter brought us a "special" menu (without any prices) and told us that today was their first day of this special 5-course Indian meal. The story was that the chefs were all from India and they worked together to develop this menu from some of their favorite meals from home. We decided to try it. Neither of us had brought our camera and we were sad to not get a photo record of the amazing and beautiful plates of food we were served and what each one was called. The food was amazing and different from anything we had eaten before. Along with the meal, waiters would share a bit about the next course and who and why they choose that dish. The table next to us got descriptions of the wines that were served with each course. I liked our information better. Even the bread served first was amazing. Not a naan as I would have expected but a rich herb filled muffin like thing. It was a fun evening with good views through the restaurant out at the lights of Wellington. And it was about $60.00 each which was our most expensive meal but worth it for the whole experience.
That is the fun thing about traveling--you never know when something amazing is just around the corner or in the restaurant!
