The Cook Strait ferry afforded still another look at the Marlborough Sound country and at some the South Island's wild coast. For those keeping score at home, we rode aboard Bluebridge's
MV Straitsman, a relatively new ship that commenced service only in 2011. The swells were 6-8 feet in my expert nautical estimation, really a calm, mostly blue day, but the ship fairly skipped, bounced, and lurched its way to Wellington harbor. I did a lot of walking on the deck, keeping my eye on the horizon. Vicki is apparently impervious to such matters and spent the three hours snacking and reading at
LOTR.
|
Leaving Picton |
|
Isolated living out on the Sound |
|
Salmon farm |
|
End of the road |
|
Quite a narrow chute the ferries sail through |
|
Thus |
|
New Zealand's two big islands form an 800-mile barrierbetween the Tasman Sea
and the Pacific, with the 20-mile wide Cook Strait the only outlet for currents,
lunar tides, meteorological tides, etc; that is, a lot of water pours through Cook
Strait; underwater cameras show the Strait's bottom is absolutely clean of debris |
|
Lashing, smashing, bashing, crashing... |
|
Thus |
|
Finally, we are in the Strait, watching the parade of ferries against the backdrop of the North Island |