We had to start the day very early with the 5:00am wake up call and 6:00am departure mainly because the Coach Captain explained that the road condition is unknown and the coach may have to detour if the road is closed. It is all because of the recent 2016 earthquake in the area, which damaged several sections of the road from Christchurch to Picton, particularly before and after Kaikoura.
We had a morning tea break in Kaikoura, a cute tiny town. One seagull was dominating the area where I was sitting and chased all other birds, all because I gave some bread pieces. Oh well...
Most of the beaches from Kaikoura to Picton were pebble beaches. Nonetheless, the beaches were beautiful with some seals spotted. We saw many white-colored rocks and Geoff explained that they all rose up during the earthquake. So their colors are white, probably because of the salt.
We saw a lot of dairy cows and sheep all over New Zealand. Also, we saw some vineyards.
After driving entirely in the morning, we arrived in Picton, a pretty port town with a lot of boats and yachts in the marina. But there were only two main streets. We had a lunch break. Since were were not eating lunch, we walked around the town. It was a cute little town, apparently gaining interest from retirees. Its marina was beautiful and there were many one-man yachts that were floating together.
High tech toilets for public use. Automatic locking and unlocking. You are given 10 minutes for your use. Soft music was being played during your occupancy. Quite interesting.
We had to say good bye to Geoff who had been guiding us for the past almost ten days. After we boarded the ferry, we were at sea for 3 hours 45 minutes until we reached the Port of Wellington. The ferry passed through a long sound until it reaches the open sea. After a while on the open sea, the ferry reached Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand.
Apparently, there was a separate lounge for the passengers of Grand Pacific, but we were not informed. Oh well... - Jeffrey
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