Queenstown to Picton, and on to Auckland

January 22-30, 2016

We began the long, multi-day trip back to Auckland from Queenstown. Before we left, though, we had a great lunch at Speitz Ale House in Queenstown. Excellent food, ample portions, and not too expensive. After an all-day drive, we stopped for 3 days in Hokitika (covered in another blog post; scroll half way down), as we both wanted to stay in a place right on the ocean. Although the 'bach' was excellent, it rained the whole time we were there. Another two days and we arrived in Picton, at the north end of the South Island, where we could catch the ferry to Wellington on the North Island. From there it would be a one or two day drive to Auckland and the plane back to LA.

Saw this old car on the highway to Picton:

From the 20s or 30s??

Saw this on arrival in Picton:

Who knew these were his passions?!

We had not booked accommodation in Picton, since we thought we'd be able to get something when we arrived; however, the only place we could find that seemed half decent was a motel on the main street. It was, indeed, only half decent, since it was on the 2nd floor and very hot with no air circulation, and no air conditioning. But later that day, Leah scored a really nice-looking cliff house with balcony for 3 days, only a few miles out of town. The next day, we moved in. Just what we wanted:

This glass-enclosed dining area represents less than 20% of the deck length. The other 80% is not enclosed.

The other 80% of the balcony, complete with really nice hot tub/whirlpool and a view of the bay.

Another view of the deck. We lived out here.

Dinner is served. Leah is a great cook!

Soothing for the body and the soul.

The garden just below the deck.

More of the garden.

We finally left the South Island on January 29th. Lovely 3 hour ferry ride.

Arriving back in Wellington, on the North Island

Nice to have a striking public sculpture to lean against while reading.

We drove off the ferry at about 12:15 PM, and headed right for Great India, which we'd been pleased with on the previous visit to Wellington. This time, the butter chicken was very good, but not great, as it had been before. Nonetheless, we'd highly recommend Great India. Relatively inexpensive, delicious and filling. One of the best restaurants we sampled in New Zealand.

We immediately began the 8-hour drive to Auckland, stopping for the night in Taupo, a nice looking tourist town on Lake Taupo. About 10 PM, we finally found a motel room, perhaps the last in town, as there was some kind of concert there the next day, a Saturday. At $180, it was expensive for us, but cheap given the location and the big event.

On the way to Auckland the next day, stopped at a rest area Subway and had lunch. While we were there, we realized we'd need to jettison some of the stuff we'd accumulated in order fit all our junk into 3 large suitcases. As we were sorting everything into two piles: take and dump, we noticed a young couple reading under a tree. We ended up giving them a ton of stuff, like road atlases, bottles, food, etc. They were very thankful. Feeling lighter, we drove the last few hours into Auckland, returned the rental car to Blue Sky Rentals, which we highly recommend, and were dropped off at the airport to await our 7:30 PM flight back to LA.

Next post: Arrival back in the beautiful Southwest.