We crossed on the family-run Bluebridge ferry and I can highly recommend their bacon and eggs for a good start to the day! Wellington harbour is huge so it seemed to take ages to clear land and head in the the Cook Strait, where we were accompanied by dolphins for a while. We were lucky to have a calm sunny day, and before long we had entered Queen Charlotte Sound and were making our way between forested headlands and inlets with bright blue water.
Picton is full of comings and goings. The small town was full of cafes, boutiques and cruise passengers let off the ship for the afternoon. We were hoping the man with our replacement van would be waiting for us at midday, but things never go that smoothly and it was 3.30 before we were on our way.
When I was first planning our trip, I was delighted to come across my own bay, so we just had to visit! We had a bit of a drive ahead, but the road was better than we expected and having followed the signs we arrived around 6 at Elaine Bay and found a spot in the DOC campsite for £3 each a night!
There’s just a handful of houses, a wharf with a few boats and a petrol pump and a jetty with a lovely view across the bay at all times of the day.
Next day we drove to French Pass, down an unmade road, that gave us tantalising glimpses of azure water and wooded inlets through the undergrowth.
The road climbed and then broke out into grassy highland slopes grazed by sheep and cattle, but this time our view was obscured by the cloud billowing round us!
Finally the road dropped again and we could see French Pass, a narrow channel between the mainland and D’Urville Island, where the currents cause the waters to seethe and eddy.
We walked to the lookout to take pictures and also saw a weka, the most common flightless native, a little like a kiwi but with shorter beak and not so shy!
We also came across another famous dolphin, this one called Pelorus Jack, The White Dolphin of French Pass, who would meet ships and travel in their bow wake, first seen in 1888, and a frequent visitor for 30 years. He, like Opi, became a media star of his time, which led to the first act of parliament to protect a species in 1904.
Time for some exercise, so we parked up at Elaine Bay again, and walked round the headland on the Archer Track …
… to Tennyson Inlet … Elaine Bay no doubt being named after Elaine the Fair, inspiration for Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott.
Really pleased we stopped here but it’s time to move on …
Off Travelling Together 