ferry crossing to Picton
We got up and out early to catch the car ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton in the South Island. Though it's sad for us to say goodbye to the North Island we're really looking forward to the south!
We had a little time to walk around Wellington before the ferry left, so we went inside Old St. Paul's Church - a rare example of timber gothic architecture and a very nice place.
We also walked around the famous NZ government house nicknamed the Beehive. It's very modern and iconic, but not very pretty.
The ferry was quite large – like the one we took to Victoria Island from Vancouver several years ago. The cars all drive into a lower deck – including several semi-trucks, and you aren't allowed to stay below in your car. We thought it was kind of stinky when we boarded, but it wasn't until we disembarked that we noticed a semi of fertilizer was on board!
The weather was forecast to be fairly calm – something I consulted when making the booking! So we spent some time up on the top deck watching them ready the boat to leave the dock, and then watching the views as we sailed out of the harbor. The ferry ride lasts about four hours, but you are never far from land and there's great people-watching onboard. The last third of the voyage is sailing up Queen Charlotte Sound and is absolutely spectacular. These sounds are very convoluted and would be great fun to explore on a boat.
Back on dry land in Picton, we stopped at a cafe for a coffee and to decide where to spend the night. We ended up choosing a holiday park that turned out to be fairly run down AND the lousy desk clerk gave us a spot only a couple meters from the freight train track! As the trains rattled by all night it just reminded these two hobos of living near the freight trains in Norman in college. It was also very cold and we were glad to have the heater.
ferry photoset
11Jul08
Picton to Kaikoura
Based on the weather forecast we decided to head south to Kaikoura before looping back to see the Sounds area. We drove through Blenheim which looked like a nice town, and stopped at an historic cob house just outside town that Justin had to investigate for our future homebuilding plans!
After awhile the road begins to closely follow the coast – squeezed between beautiful beaches to the west and steep hills and mountains to the east. We stopped a couple times- for a walk on the beach, and to see a seal colony that had lots of babies/juveniles playing on the rocks.
Then into Kaikoura and around to the headlands to look for more seals and to have a “photo reverie” as the late afternoon light dramatically lit up the ocean.
Haha – it's going to take me years to properly go through all my photos and tweak the RAW files when I get home! But I think I have captured a few gems. As sad as I was to not bring a film camera on this trip it sure has been nice to not worry about buying film and getting it developed and all the additional costs. Of course the downside is that I have so many more “snapshots” to sort through! I've been uploading no more than one-fifth of my photos to flickr. Ah the photographer's burden.
Anyways, that night we checked into a hostel and met a friendly pair of German girls – Eva and Stephanie – who were traveling and gave us lots of recommendations for things to see in Australia. Including a WWOOF farm where you get to feed and take care of orphaned kangaroo babies!! Oh, I can't wait!
Also at the hostel we ran into the two quiet German guys we met at Moana Lodge in Plimmerton. One of them had had his camera stolen the day before (not at this hostel) and was very unhappy. It reminded me to backup my photos! Late that night a huge storm blew through, rattling the house and ruining our sleep.
Kaikoura photoset
2 comments:
Nice house. Are we thinking earthship here? I can really see you guys doing that.
Funny you should mention earthships. When I first saw Michael Reynolds' designs (the guy behind earthships), I was really interested. After a bit more research (and reading first-hand accounts), I realized I had absolutely no desire to pound dirt into old car tires. That's reportedly exhausting, endless work - several hours just for one tire. And all of those earthships you see are made up of 1000s of tires.
I still think lots of the design ideas are nice - passive solar heating, grey-water reuse in gardens/greenhouses, off-the-grid power generation - but they've all been around in one form or another for quite a while.
I think I'd much rather get the same sort of thermal mass from cob or adobe, both of which sound fairly accessible to someone who is willing to do the work on his/her own house.
It's also just fun to see how people of different eras built there houses and remind myself that a home didn't (and doesn't have to) involve a dozen contractor and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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