When we do arrive, we're highly disappointed. The city centre is a measly two blocks. The harbour is nice but compared to what we've seen it's underwhelming. I guess the whole draw to Picton is that the inter island ferry travels from its port to Wellington.
We go to a used bookstore and the owner ushers us all out at 5:00 on the dot (after multiple warnings that he is closing soon.) Whatever. His assortment of 80's self-help books average at $12 a piece.
We walk past the museum: it's the size of a trailer, it costs $7 for entry and anyway, it's already closed.
We walk to the laundrette. The owner tells us its at least $10 to do one small load of laundry. The sky is overcast and adds to the overall gloominess of the town and makes us not want to walk to harbour. Needless to say we hightail it out of Picton and stay on the outskirts of town.
We have better luck in Nelson. We're greeted by beautiful beaches and gardens. The sky is grey but the weather is warm and balmy. We even arrive at the perfect time to enjoy the Christmas Parade (it is actually pretty impressive.) We check out different shops and go for coffee. We meander through the Queen's Garden (it's extraordinary! Hands down the nicest garden I've ever seen, anywhere!) We go to the library and work on our resumes and do a bunch of other grown-up crap.
At this point in our trip we have come to the realization that "freedom camping" isn't just some hippy free-for-all without rules and restrictions (illegal camping can lead to huge bylaw fines, we are truly lucky we made it this far unscathed) so we go to the local iSite. The nice lady gives us a map and says: "You can camp anywhere in these yellow ares as long as you're 50 meters near a public bathroom." We pick a sport near the marina and Tahunanui Beach. Actually finding the area is an epic pain in the ass and when we do we discover its totally industrial. We eat some dinner and walk down the boardwalk. We decide to treat ourselves to a movie night and since I just finished Gone Girl and Jordan has read it as well, we think it's fitting.
We go to a quaint theatre in town. The guy behind the counter is flabbergasted when Jordan asks for a "pop".
"Pardon?"
"Er... soda?"
"I don't know what you're saying."
"Like... Coca Cola."
"Oh... Oh! You mean a drink..."
I guess? (I've now learned that 'fizzy drink' is the accepted terminology.)
The theatre has about 10 seats, its an intimate experience and we strike up a conversation with a Swiss guy about whether or not the movie will compare to the book (it did, David Fincher killed it!)
We pass out in a parking lot at the marina.
We continue to do "adult" things the next day (run errands, grocery shop, go to the pharmacy, etc, etc) and lo and behold, what do we see cruising down Halifax Street? None other than the Kiwi-Mobile itself! It's here in Nelson and being driven by two absolute babes! I wave and then realize they have NO idea why I'm waving, hence the weird looks. I hope to run into them as I'm curious to how much they paid (and I have great segway to strike up a conversation with two travelling hunks.)
We make dinner at Tahunanui Beach (quickly becoming our favourite spot) and walk the bustling beach in the falling darkness.
In the morning we enjoy coffee from our fabulous new French Press (or, the less enchanting New Zealand name: Coffee Plunger) and sit it at the beach before we head to Abel Tasman at the head of the South Island.
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