South Island: getting there

3 weeks in the South Island is a long time to write in one post, so I figured I'd break it up.

Getting from Kaiaua to Kaikoura (north of the North to north of the South) took a couple of days in itself. After everyone had packed for 3 weeks and was in the vans, we drove for 12 hours down to Wellington... that is a LONG time to be in a van. Lots of crafts, eating, and napping. We stopped when there were things we wanted to look at, like this building shaped like a sheep:

Or Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings!

We spent the night in Wellington, which is a very cool coastal city at the bottom of the North Island. And then woke up mega early to catch the ferry from the North Island to the South Island. It was this GIANT, titanic-like boat that takes 3 hours (to take hundreds of people and their cars) to cross that waterway between the islands. The ferry was cool, so luxurious inside with lounges where all these recliner chairs faced large glass windows (like in WALL-E!) and cafes, bars, sundecks, etc. The car park downstairs was full of cool stuff too, like a professional race car, a bus, a trailer that said "Caution! Miniature horses in transit" and a collection of funny-looking foreign cars.

Once the ferry got into the Marlborough Sound was when it finally hit me how beautiful the South Island was going to be. We passed green islands all over, with rocky outcroppings, lone houses on the slopes, and with the bluest water you've ever seen.

Abby on the boat, that's Wellington in the background

We saw penguins here! Although they didn't show up in this picture. There was a little pair of them, swimmin together! (note: penguins mate for life, making our little pair that much cuter)