Windy Wellington
Wellington has a bit of a reputation. I didn’t know that until I mentioned to a new acquaintance that I would be traveling up to Wellington for a few days. Her immediate response was somewhere along the lines of “Enjoy Windy Welly!” I guess because of it’s location at the southern tip of the north island and the strong winds that pass through the Cook Strait, the city is a bit windy. As long as it wasn’t raining, I didn’t mind.
[SIDEBAR: New Zealand really has some of the most extraordinary vistas. I feel like a total travel nerd taking photos from the window of the plane, but I can’t help myself. When you see things like this, how can you not snap a pic?]
The purpose of the trip was to pick up the car I wanted to buy. Everything here happens online – it’s sort of fascinating. I mean, we Americans are used to Amazon Prime (man, I miss their one-day shipping) and Instacart, but I think the Kiwis beat us on how commerce gets done. Anyway, I narrowed down the field and focused my search on a particular brand and model, and the best deal I could find was in Wellington. So after discussing the details and negotiating a price, I flew to Welly to get my girl. (You can read about her here.)
Then the challenge was getting her home. Not only is New Zealand’s capital city more than 900kms (559 miles) away from Queenstown, but there’s also a body of water between the two islands. It’s a lot of swimming and driving to do! Clearly I’m not the first to do this, but this was definitely *my* first time navigating this kind of unknown territory.
Baby’s first photo
After finalizing the purchase and having some lunch, I took my new car off the lot. On the wrong side of the road. Well, it’s their correct side – the left side – but it felt wrong to me. Anyway, I had time to kill before bedding down for the night, so I hit the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa). It’s sort of an interactive history of New Zealand and its native peoples, but there’s also some really interesting modern art and public installations. I think it’s mostly designed for kids and families, but it was a useful way to spend a couple of hours, learn something about my new home country, and have (yet another) cup of tea.
I spent the night in Wellington, pretty close to the marina, at my first Airbnb. [Yep, this trip was a list of firsts for me!] There was a crazy combination of events happening in the city that weekend and the only available hotel was super high-end luxury and totally unnecessary. Thankfully my favorite Kiwi recommended looking at Airbnb. I found the perfect spot (once I had jumped through all of their hoops to get set up and verified): the hostess was a young woman who works in IT and runs marathons as a hobby; her downstairs space is self-contained and therefore perfect for an overnight guest; she had a parking space in her driveway for my new shiny automobile; and you could see the ferry from the balcony. And it was nearly $350 cheaper than the least expensive hotel in the city for one night. Win!
I arrived pretty early for my departure, but as a newbie I didn’t want to be scrambling trying to figure it out. I checked in, and waited in line with the HUNDREDS of other vehicles waiting to get onto the ferry. I had absolutely no idea how they were all going to fit, but this was one of those times where you trust that someone else knows this gig better than you do. So I followed the line in front of me and followed directions from the dozens of staff. The ferry is sort of bananas, honestly – I wasn’t even sure that my little machine was going to make it up those slippery ramps, and I certainly didn’t feel wholly comfortable with the parking situation:
That’s four aisles of cars pointing down the elevated ramp, one aisle facing up, and 2 of us perpendicular to traffic. Yep, we ran out of space to turn around at the top, so one other lucky fellow and I were t-boning traffic. In some ways I guess it was more stable than being nose-to-tail with the cars around us, but I really didn’t think I’d come out without a scratch, given the situation.
But I did. Not a single scratch on her. Those ferry people know what they’re doing!
Once I got to the south island and off the ferry, I drove right past Picton and into Blenheim. [For those of you keeping score, Blenheim holds some personal significance. Blenheim – and the Marlborough wine region – is where I met the Kiwi in 2009.] I stopped for a coffee and to fill the car up with petrol, and I started my trek to the west coast. In Marlborough, I passed many of the wineries that we had visited on that fateful day more than 7 years ago – it was a little surreal to drive by them again, in my own car, under completely different circumstances.
The weather wasn’t so great initially – in fact, it had rained pretty consistently from the time I got in queue for the ferry at 7:15am – but it cleared up beautifully the further west I drove. There was plenty of traffic, too, since the road to Christchurch was ruined by the earthquake near the coastal city of Kaikoura. After the turn-off for the detour to Christchurch, the other cars thinned out and I mostly had the road to myself. There isn’t much radio out there, but the views are stunning.
I made it to Hokitika before sunset, which – if you’re watching closely – means that I made pretty good time. I was happy to get a break in the drive, honestly. The car is comfortable and easy to drive, but there’s a certain amount of concentration required when you’re on the other side of the road. It’s a bit curvy as well, which really only matters when you’re faced with a massive truck heading from the opposite direction. The highways are all basically one lane in each direction, and they care not about the weaving in and out of mountains and valleys. Bless ’em – the roads here aren’t like many others in the world.
I started again the next morning, bright and early. I have driven the west coast of New Zealand in the other direction – from south to north – but it was years ago and I didn’t quite remember how difficult it would be. I am fortunate that I chose to do this in summer, and I’m even luckier that I had a cloudless, sunny day.
I did stop for lunch in Haast, which wasn’t much of a town really. I was keen to get back to Queenstown with some sunlight left in the day, so I cruised through Glacier Country (Franz Josef and Fox), Haast Pass, and Lake Hawea. I will say that the view from the top of the Crown Range is pretty special:
And with that, I was nearly home. I was intact, the car was mostly intact, and a brand new chapter began.