We had a quick look at Picton this morning, because we leave today on the afternoon ferry to travel to the North Island. There is a nice park right on the water.

Then we found the Interisland Ferry terminal and got in line with the other cars, trucks and campervans. They loaded the ship in a hurry and then we went to the sundeck (level 10) to view the scenery as we left the harbor. The entire journey distance is 50 nautical miles and took about 3 hours. The ship is huge; it will carry 1600 passengers.

Picton is located deep in Queen Charlotte Sound; it takes an hour just to reach the open sea. We went by Dieffenback Point, named after the NZ scientist who calculated the height of mountains from the temperature at which water boiled at different altitudes.

Then we went through Tory Channel where there was a whaling station in the 1820s. A lookout near the end of Tory Channel is marked with a monument honoring Capt Cook who first sighted the stretch of water we would travel across, Cook Strait.

It got very windy as we reached the open sea, so we spent some time in the "overlook" room which had a great view through wrap-around windows. There was an Elvis impersonator in the bar; he was pretty good.

As we approached the North Island, we went through a rough stretch called Karori Rip. It is where two tides meet.

It was interesting to view the city of Wellington as we entered that harbor. We chose a campground
which is very close to the city so we can take a bus in tomorrow to do some sightseeing. The campground is behind a hotel but has all the services of other campgrounds except for being more crowded. In fact, our campsite is just a parking space with hookups.