Queen Charlotte Sound

We had heard from numerous people who had been to NZ that the ferry trip from the North to the South Island was very beautiful especially the piece from the tip of the Queen Charlotte Sound to Picton at the far end. To give you an idea of how convoluted the sounds are there is one particular stretch which is 42 km long but has 379 km of shoreline!

The following pic is a typical view from the ferry along the sounds and one of us on the bow of the boat.

We had heard that Picton was not that nice a place and it only existed as a transport hub. To be fair the town itself is nothing special as the picture below shows.

The views from Picton back up the sound make a stop over well worth while however. I reckon these next two pics are about the best I have taken on the trip so far. It was twilight when I took them so they are very atmospheric. I particularily like the one of of the young couple looking out onto the sound....the girl is actually looking towards the boy which is kind of suggestive!

In Picton there is also a lovely marina and again just to give you an impression of how pretty it was here are a few more pics. The second one was taken on a different day when the quality of the light was much better.

Finally the ferry is also used for transporting goods between both islands, whole trains drive onto the ferry and off at the other end. There was one passenger that seemed to summarise the whole Kiwi experience however as the pic below will show.

Ahhhhh! There should be a picture here of a container full of sheep, but blogger has decided to act up again. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Cathal