Next was a long drive to Wellington.  We had a tour of Weta Workshops booked.  I really wanted to go, but I’m still sick and this was the last opportunity to see a doctor for a while.  Heidi and I skipped the tour to go to the doctors.  Just to see the doctor and tell her I had a sinus infection and her to go, “yes you do” cost me $200.  Ouch and ouch.  We went out for dinner.  It was the last night we would all be together.  Half of the group would end their tour in Wellington and half of us would go on to tour the South Island.  It’s sad to say goodbye to some of our group.  The next morning was an early start with breakfast at 6:00am..  Half the group got on bus or had other plans.  The rest of us got on a ferry to cross the Cook Straight.  I’ve never been on a big ferry before.  This boat was huge, full of semi trucks, cars and cargo on the lower levels and people on the upper levels.  The views outside were stunning, but the wind and cold made it uncomfortable outside so we spent the 3 hours in the café area.  We stopped for wine tasting.  It was a tourist area with some shops – I could have skipped this part.  We had lunch near a river where part of The Hobbit was filmed. I took a picture of the river, but can’t say it looked familiar.

We got to spend two nights near the Abel Tasman National Park.  Two nights in the same place is a small luxury!  The first morning we got picked up by a water taxi.  Because of the big changes in tides, they load you into the boats and take the boats out to the water by tractor.  That was a fun unique experience.  Our boat took us to Split Apple Rock.  Then we went to a nearby island and looked for fur seals.  Our guide told us they were technically sea lions, but they never changed the name.  We saw a few.  They dropped us off at a different bay and we hiked back. There are a bunch of trails in the park and some go along the tops with great overlooks and some go down to bays.  We did some beach time and a lot of hiking.  We saw dolphin, but no orca.  I keep hoping to see orca – maybe later in the trip.  It was a little more hiking than I wanted.  We got back around dinner time.  It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.

They have a great sea gull here.  He’s very white with red eyes and red feet.  There was one on the beach that tried to sneak up behind us in hopes of getting food.  He snuck all around us – up one side, then the other, round back, back and forth in front.  It was a lot of work of pretending he didn’t notice us as he searched for scraps.  He came up empty.  The sand at the beaches is golden due to iron in the minerals.  Some of the sand is black which was obviously metallic because it stuck to the magnets on my backpack, creating cool crystal like structures on the magnets.  The water was too cold for me, but a few people swam.

Then it was time to move on.  We drove through some of the prettiest mountains – very rugged and very green.  More cows, sheep and farms too.