Picton and the joy of driving on the left--backward

Yesterday we got up early to take the ferry to the South Island.  I was hoping for a beautiful trip and I was not disappointed.

Getting on the ferry with the car was a bit of a trial, but we finally were on and we went directly to the cafe and found some good seats in a section with all windows.  

The room in this section came in handy a little later when the early hour caught up with Meredith and Noreen.

The view going through the Queen Charlotte Sound was spectacular, both from inside our little area

and outside.

It was one of the most beautiful natural places I have been to in my life.

When we got to the ferry stop in Picton, we parked the car and went to the information office to see about getting some paddle boards and kayaks.  Then we had some lunch on the main street in this very small town.

I really wanted to paddleboard but when I got on the board, I just couldn't get up on my feet.  So I straddled it like a kayak.

Meredith and Noreen did not have any trouble.

Ada took a kayak right from the start.

It was pretty hard work paddling against the current so eventually the girls just got on the diving platform and went swimming in the very cold water.

As you can see, the weather was once again superb.  They are talking about a drought here, which we hope will be solved as soon as we leave, but not before, please.

These boards are very heavy and we had to carry them about 150 feet to the water and back over very hot pavement.  That was the hardest part of the experience.  And on the way back Noreen stubbed her big toe so badly that she thinks she may have broken it.  We took a picture to use in our future law suit.

After our water experience, we did a little shopping, had another drink on High Street and went off to find our ferry home.  We waited a very long time for it to show and then to begin accepting cars.  When we were finally ready to get on, a half-hour late, we were asked to turn around and back up half the length of the boat, maneuvering around a very large tanker train.  That was just not going to happen.  I had already scraped the tire in the morning misjudging the space between my left side and the curb as I exited the garage.  There was no way I was going to back up into a dark ship in a very narrow corridor, in a borrowed car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and the stick shift, which I rarely use, also on the wrong side.

I was holding up all the traffic getting into the boat when I very nice man in the car in front of me offered to drive it into the boat.  If he had not been there, our car--and the ferry--- would probably still be in Picton.

Here is where we ended up--as you can see I'm not exaggerating about our spot.

The only thing you cannot see in this picture is the wall right beside us.  

We used the three hour ferry ride back to play 20 questions, during which we found out that both Noreen and Meredith have some supernatural power in guessing who it is you have in mind.  It's weird and uncanny.

 When we were leaving, the very nice man who helped me back up said we should follow him onto Rt 1 North, which was very helpful.  We were very happy to get home--in one piece after a really lovely day--minus the backing up, of course.