We in the South Island, we are, we are

After the fun times shared at Whanganui, we embarked on the next stage of our journey, Wellington. We had too get to the Blue Bridge Ferry before it left at 2:30pm. We ended up getting to the ferry when we needed too and we boarded the humongous blue and white ferry soon after. We drove our car onto the boat and I was surprised on how big the vessel was. Once we parked the car, we got out and tried to find a seat. About an hour later(only ten minutes) we finally found a seat(without a table; which was annoying because we had brought a lot of food.) The seats were very comfortable and we enjoyed two very cool movies; the first was, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation; a comedy, and then Karate Kid; an action movie (sadly we didn't get to finish it!!)

Arriving in Picton

Just about to get back in the car, to drive into Picton.

What to do, what to do

Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre

Knights of the Sky
It was Logan's recommendation to go to this nationally famous Peter Jackson museum - a WW1 and WWII exhibition in old airline hangers at the Omaka airfield. Yet despite his desire to go, playing cricket with new-found friends meant that we were met with cries of protest; also Eliza refused to get in the car and drive for "any longer than an hour".
In the end, we made the drive from Picton to Blenheim rather uneventfully - in less than an hour - and proceeded to buy our tickets to enter the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre.

It was fantastic!
The work of Weta Workshop was evident in the construction of the mannequins and the scenes being depicted. It became very apparent that WW1 was an opportunity for entrepreneurs to create a variety of designs of the newly invented aeroplane. The French were the masters. Most of the planes were made of wood construction with fabric coverings; the propellers carefully constructed of layers of wooden ply glued together. Often the bi-planes did not have have guns on the craft itself, but the gunner would sit in the front shooting a rifle or throwing deadly things at enemy troops on the ground below.
We saw planes with one set of wings (mono-planes), two sets of wings (bi-planes), and even three sets of wings (tri-planes); a plane that looked like a bird (the "Dove"), and planes that didn't look like they had even been finished being built.

We then continued our way into the Dangerous Skies exhibition, where we learnt about the Battle of Britain and how important winning this battle was for changing the strategy of the war. The Nazis turned their focus on the East, and Russia. New Zealand pilots were extremely influential here, and one particular Captain's approach of intercepting German bombers as they crossed the Channel and hassling them all the way to England, helped stop the bombing raids on London.

Sitting in the Bombing Raid simulation was frightening - but not as frightening as the statistics of the fighters who died from each nation in this horrible war. The death toll from every nation was bad, but nothing compared to the losses experienced by both the German and Russian soldiers in Stalingrad on the Eastern Front. It is sobering to think that, in the end, starvation, disease, and freezing temperatures always exact the highest toll.

Makana chocolate factory

Following a brief detour into Blenheim, where we got some lunch at a local cafe, we drove towards Spring Creek and the Chocolate Factory.
We got greeted at the door with free samples of chocolate and then decided what chocolate to get. We then decided on a macadamia and chocolate block with dark chocolate truffles.

Watching the chocolate making process.

Cherry picking

Book the boat for tomorrow. 8am, 6:30 alarm.

Beachcomber cruises

Motuara Island
Not really what we know as a bird sanctuary. Barely heard birds, let alone saw them. We went to see in order to take advantage of the vantage point at the top of the island. The view was stunning.

The view of the Sounds was just breathtaking and well worth the climbing effort

Queen Charlotte Track

To spend some time understanding the Sounds we decided to complete a section of the Queen Charlotte Track. The track starts in Ship's Cove, a place much favoured by Captain James Cook on his many voyages to NZ. In total he stayed over 100 days in Queen Charlotte Sound.

We decided to walk about a 12km section, of the flattest terrain. The kids were troupers and lasted well until the last 2 km. Fortunately at Punga Cove there were cold drinks available. Well earned indeed.