To Upper HuttOct 30, 2005
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Captions & travelogue later
Picton to Upper Hutt - 36 KM 10/30/05
Easy route today. Straight 1 KM route to a right turn and a right into the Ferry Ticket Line. Can"t miss it. Wrong! At the only stop sign the column was broken and the two physicians on the tour wound up leading the tail 5 Maui's right past the ticket line and into the truck loading terminal. "Doggone it Jim I'm a Doctor! Not a navigator!" Plenty of time to correct this as the 9:40 ferry didn't load until about 10:30.
Then Murphy struck again. At loading time one Maui wouldn't start. Tricky critters, these Maui's. The starting sequence is controlled by computer. Probably a Microsquish OS one as one wrong step and you often have to close all windows, shut off the Maui, and start all over. Easy to miss a step when you are excited, like when everyone else is aboard the ferry and it's almost like an international booking to get on the next one 3 hours later. It finally was made happy and started, but only after it extracted it's pound of sweat.
The ferry ride to the North Island was through low clouds covering the hilltops of the smaller islands in the sound. On the plus side the wind that had been present for a few days didn't happen so we had a smooth ride over what can be one of the roughest crossings in the South Pacific.
As the Caravan Park was only 35 KM away many decided to visit the Museum of NZ, in Wellington. The museum had a good depiction of the geological and cultural history of NZ, with emphasis on kids displays. It was Sunday, and a holiday weekend. Kids ruled!
Wellington is the capitol of NZ. Didn't get to see much of it as wind and rain showed up, but the downtown commercial area was pretty dirty and did not have the image you expect of a capitol city. Sort of like Amsterdam about 20 years ago before it got cleaned up. Trash on the sidewalks, bums sleeping on the street, and our shoes kept sticking to the floor of the downtown Burger King when we grabbed a quick sandwidge there.
Did find a good I-Net shop and got website photos up to date. Still behind on travel summaries
