Joyriders
Out stay in the North Island of New Zealand had come to an end and it was time to cross the Cook Strait to begin our exploration of the South Island. The Cook Strait has a fearsome reputation because it funnels weather systems between the North and South Islands and can produce some seriously rough seas. But we were very fortunate. The sea was a millpond, and we enjoyed a calm four-hour crossing. It was nice to slip past the twin Pencarrow Lighthouses that we'd got up close to on our bike ride around the peninsula. The lighthouses were New Zealand’s first permanent lights and have been guiding ships into Wellington Harbour since the 1850s and now we were saying goodbye. Franz Josef Glacier As we neared Picton, the South Island harbour, the scenery became increasingly dramatic, with the ferry weaving through the flooded valleys and forested ridgelines of the Marlborough Sounds. The Sounds are ancient river valleys drowned by rising sea levels thousands of years ago and they make fo...
