During our recent trip to Wellington, we decided we’d like to catch the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton. We wanted to see a few of the sights instead of hanging around the city for the entire weekend. The weather wasn’t too good with lots of wind and rain, but after considering the weather forecast, and ringing my brother-in-law who is a weather guru, we decided to risk it and book the ferry plus a Marlborough wine tour.
The cancellation of the first ferry and the subsequent delay while they loaded extra cars and passengers on our ferry should have been a warning. But no. Mr. Munro and I happily boarded, found a good seat and settled in with a latte each. We were delayed about an hour before the ferry set off. The first part of the journey as we left the harbour was okay, but the moment we entered the open sea, it was all on.
Rock ‘n roll, baby.
The ferry went up, slammed down, tossed a little from side to side. The ferry was a big one, but the waves were crashing over the bow. And to think I’d wondered about all the white paper bags on each table in the cafe. Within minutes, passengers were grabbing bags and throwing up. I have to admit the crew were really good, whisking bags around, going around and offering aid and small chips of ice to passengers. At no time did the ferry smell like vomit, which was pretty amazing. Luckily, both Mr. Munro and I are good sailors with cast iron stomachs. We watched everyone else, and when the bars reopened when we re-entered calmer waters, we had another coffee and enjoyed the passing scenery as we entered the Marlborough Sounds.
Cook Strait separates the North and South Islands. It is about 22km wide and is known for its wild waters.
Are you a good traveller? Do you get seasick? Airsick? Other forms of motion sickness?
I haven’t done the trip from Auckland to Wellington for a long time. Yep, I was excited about the prospect of a trip South. We picked up the van we had to drive to Wellington the night before. It’s a little van with vinyl seats and not much leg room. Mr. Munro complained the van didn’t like going fast. He had trouble coaxing it past 100km per hour, which is our speed limit. After little sleep (we had a phone call at 2.00am – highly uncivilized if you ask me!!) we hit the road at six-thirty.
It turned out that the van wasn’t too bad for leg space and a towel stopped the problem of sticking to the vinyl seats. The van loved going up hills, which was a bonus, but on the down side it also loved to guzzle gas. We had to stop three times to refill during the eight hour drive.
The weather was beautiful, without a cloud in the sky. The iPod worked well and we drove with the windows down and the music blaring – well as much as Mr. Munro lets the music blare. He’s a fuddy-duddy that way!
We stopped at Lake Taupo, which is the biggest lake in New Zealand, and supposedly the site of the largest volcanic reaction the world has ever seen. You’ve probably heard me mention Taupo before. I like it very much and have some wonderful memories of family holidays spent there as a teenager. I pointed out the street where my mother received a parking ticket and where we went to the movies. The lake was flat calm and the trio of mountains were visible across the water. That’s unusual so we took photos.
We drove down the Desert Road and managed to take some great shots of the mountains. The Desert Road is mostly tussock, but parts of it are very sandy. During winter this stretch of road is often closed due to snow and ice. The NZ army do a lot of their training here before troops are sent overseas. The terrain is certainly challenging, and while it’s very pretty, I wouldn’t want to be there in the middle of winter.
The rest of the drive was through farm land before we hit the coast and the sea. The pohutukawa trees seem to flower later down here. The trees were ablaze with scarlet flowers. Pohutukawa flowers always remind me of Christmas. We drove into the central city of Wellington and found our serviced apartment without any problem. It’s very central – just a brief walk away from most of the tourist spots. We can even see a sliver of the waterfront from our balcony.
I’ve done a lot of travelling, and I think a person would have to go a long way to see better scenery. New Zealand really is a pretty country, not that I’m biased or anything.
Do you enjoy road trips? When and where did you take your last road trip?
This photo was taken at the Goat Island Marine Reserve in New Zealand. The water is clear and the area pristine and full of fish. I took this photo of blue mau-mau from the rocks. People snorkle and dive here, but as you can see it’s easy to see fish without getting wet. You can also paddle at the water’s edge and huge fish swim around your legs.
Bottle Top Bay is a small community not far from where I used to live. We used to go there for a drive some weekends and take Scotty for a walk. I used it as the setting for Summer in the City of Sails or at least that’s where Summer lives with Nikolai. Her Uncle Henry lives at Bottle Top Bay too. Louie and Mac from Soldier of Fortune vist Summer and Nikolai at Bottle Top Bay.
The other day hubby and I went for a bike ride together and took some photos.
These are both shots of Bottle Top Bay, taken from the other side of the estuary. As you can see the tide is out, and when it’s out it is really way out! It’s pretty though, and out in the country, but still not far away from the amenities of town.
I’ve finally signed up for Twitter. I have no idea what I’m doing. Heck, I’m still working out FaceBook. This is my Twitter address if you’d like to follow me.
I have two questions for you today: Do you like Twitter, and if so, why or why not? Do you enjoy background information about stories i.e. family trees, photos, info about where the idea came from etc?
This shot was taken at our local Botanic Gardens. Mr. Munro and I don’t get there as often these days, now that the little dog is gone, but it’s a lovely outing for a Sunday morning.
In New Zealand news, an Invercargill woman was fined $275 for disorderly behavior after she flashed her boobs at motorists and caused an accident.
Mr. Munro has just learned he might have to go to work in Wellington for two weeks early next year, and I’ll get to go with him. Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island, and it will be a nice break from Auckland. I might even get some writing done. I’m finding it hard going this month with all the other Christmas distractions. I definitely want to visit the Day in Pompeii exhibition at Te Papa museum and we’re thinking we might do a quick trip to the South Island if time permits.
In book news, I have three more Ellora’s Cave titles available in the Kindle format: Fringe Benefits, Fallen Idol and Fancy Free are now on sale. Whisk out your credit cards and grab your copies today!
If you’re a writer, how is your writing coming along with all the Christmas razzmatazz? And readers, are you managing to relax a little with some of your favourite books?
This is a shot of Albert Park (named after Prince Albert) in Central Auckland. It’s not far from the university and on a fine day, it’s the perfect place for students to eat their lunch.
Mystery writer JA Konrath has a very interesting post about e-books and what he predicts will happen during 2010 in the e-book/e-reader world.
I’m actually feeling very positive about e-books at the moment. I love the freedom of writing for e-publishers, although the pirate issue does worry me. It’s truly disheartening when pirates put up books for free download on release day. It’s not only the e-authors who have a pirate problem though. The pirates have no compunction in making e-copies of paperback books and giving those away free too.
I think the increased competition in the e-reader market can only mean good things, driving the price down. Like Mr. Konrath, I’d like to see a standard industry format. What do you think will happen in the e-book world during the next year?
I’m guest blogging at the Samhellion blog today and talking about diaries and my upcoming release, The Bottom Line. While you’re there don’t forget to check out the special Christmas scavenger hunts to win either a Kindle reader or a Sony reader.
According to our local newspapers a high country farmer intends to prove the existence of the mysterious black leopard that supposedly lives in mid-Canterbury, New Zealand. He has built a trap to capture the creature and wants to do DNA tests to prove one way or the other that the alien cat is fact rather than fiction.
What is an alien cat you ask? It’s actually large feline, such as a leopard or cougar, sighted in an area or country where it’s not indigenous. Many countries have sightings of alien cats including my home country of New Zealand, Britain, Australia, Finland, Denmark and Hawaii.
It was an article in the newspaper about sightings of this black panther in the South Island of New Zealand that first snared my attention a few years ago. Since the 1990s, witnesses have seen the big cat on several occasions, but a search by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry found no physical evidence to support the sightings.
And yet the alien sightings continue.
A big cat could certainly live happily in the area of Ashburton. The climate is suitable and food is abundant, ranging from birds and rabbits to deer and domestic livestock. As in the case of all alien cats (no matter what part of the world they’re sighted) skeptics want to know how they got there. They also want proof such as a carcass bearing bite or claw marks. Most sightings, they say, are of domestic cats or other animals.
Supporters of the alien cat stories state that big cats are secretive by nature. Sightings aren’t common in countries where they are native and many big cats are nocturnal, reducing the chances of eyewitness sightings.
Documented reports of alien cats in New Zealand are too numerous to ignore. One eyewitness said he and his wife looked down onto the river flat and saw the cat. It was a very large black cat, similar in size to his Golden Lab/Mastif cross with a long tail. Once it got wind of them, the cat disappeared smartly. Before he was skeptical, but seeing something with your own eyes is very definite.
Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but personally, I like to believe in alien cats. It’s certainly an interesting topic to debate, and the story about the black panthers stirred my imagination. I collect ideas and combined the panther story with one about a small New Zealand town called Middlemarch. If you follow my blog you already know the town has a severe shortage of women of marriageable age and they organized a dance to entice more young women to the area. My paranormal series called Middlemarch Mates was born from the marriage of these ideas. I am currently working on book nine in my feline shapeshifter series, which is available from Ellora’s Cave.
What do you think about alien cats? Fact or fiction?
A pukeko is a swamp hen, part of the rail family. While some of our native birds have become extinct because of introduced predators such as rats, cats and stoats, the pukeko has adapted easily and is very common. They happily live in town and city reserves where there are swamps and ponds, living on vegetation, insects and frogs.
I’ve always thought of pukekos as stupid birds. When we lived on the farm I used to watch them flying into power lines and fences. They do fly, but are not strong flyers and usually only travel short distances. They also make a high-pitch shriek – it’s not a particularly musical sound. The pukeko chicks are very weird looking and cute at the same time with big feet – watch the ad below to see for yourself. It’s an ad for an electricity wholesaler and has won heaps of ad awards. It always makes me smile.
What is the strangest bird you’ve ever seen? Do you like bird watching?
It’s time for some more New Zealand ads. Some of these are older ones, but they’re still some of my favorites.
The one below is an all-time favorite. They’ve recently reissued it, combining it with the “Get A Perm” guy from the ad below, but I couldn’t find a version of that on You Tube Yet. Unfortunately the quality isn’t too good at the start, although it does improve.
This one below has proved very popular and they’ve done a series featuring the two men. It is Instant Kiwi’s most recent ad campaign.
Which is your favorite? Have you got the instant Kiwi Attitude?
According to our local newspapers a high country farmer intends to prove the existence of the mysterious black leopard that supposedly lives in mid-Canterbury, New Zealand. He has built a trap to capture the creature and wants to do DNA tests to prove one way or the other that the alien cat is fact rather than fiction.
