To the South Island I go...

The ferry trip was exciting and beautiful. It felt so similar to Alaska, as we wound between Marlborough sounds to reach Picton. The blue ocean and green hills was achingly picturesque. So, I obliged by spending most of the time on the top deck, thrashed by the crazy-strong wind. But worth it, so worth it.

Picton is a cute little town, which I'll talk about more later. The first time seeing it was a brief passing through, before I hopped on a bus to Bleinheim and then a train to Christchurch.

The train ride was along the coast, and involved some fur seal and dolphin spotting. It's so nice to zoom along with a book in the lap and mountains and the oceans out of the windows to look at.When I finally got to Christchurch, I waited at the train station to be picked up for a nerve-wracking 2 1/2 hours. The sun went down and it started to get cold, and I was a little scared. The only place open was a pub, so I used their phone to call a taxi into town to..get a hostel somewhere? But luckily Annabelle called my cell phone right after that and told me they were on the way. I was so happy to see them pull up. And then we drove in the dark another hour to their farm, and I went to sleep in a warm bed, curious as to what I would see out of the window when I woke up...