Day 11 - One island to the next

We had to get up ridiculously early to catch this ferry from the North Island to the South one. Despite this, it was an excellent couple of hours of very smooth travelling. I'm sure it is not always that way. By the time we had a cooked brekkie and played in play area (# 233 I think we are up to), we were there with an hour to spare in Picton before the tranzcoastal train to Christchurch.






As an interesting aside, Grace was compelled to visit all the toilets that were on offer (not just on the boat, but EVERYWHERE in the Nth Island we visited). It took me a while to figure this out - how can one need to check out another toilet only 5 mins after the previous one? The answer is in the detail. Now I would not normally bother to read the toilet holder manufacturer labels. Grace Field is different :). I think she felt some sense of ownership!



We noted that a suburb of Wellington is actually called Gracefield....and if the taxi driver would have let me jump out at the roundabout in the main street I would have also taken photos of the many coloured flags bearing her name. Such a spoilsport.

The tranzcoastal is a lovely train trip down the coast of the south island. Again we visited the issue of pretty scenery holding the attention of small minds for about 15 mins. That left about 5 hours of "I'm bored. I'm hungry. I'm thirsty. I need to go to the toilet. Are we there yet?" ('Ask your father' is the answer to all those questions)







Nanny did her best to entertain.


Grandma and Grandad had obviously thought it through a little more carefully and booked their seats several rows back.


By the time the children realised (ie their father informed them) that they could in fact go back and spend quality time with Grandma also, Grandad had thought up a secondary plan and instead plied them with ice-cream. 10 points for keeping ahead of them. They maintained this tally by proceeding on with their own 10 day south island tour without any grandchildren. OK 20 points.



With only Nan left for comfort, we were staying the remaining nights in Christchurch.
The local Chinese restaurant was all we could find for tea close by. We walked in and knew immediately that this was a very good choice when the restaurant was FULL with only Chinese people....that meant the food HAD to be good. And it was. So much so that we went back again the next night - if only to see 'Lucky' the 17yo fish-of-some-sort. Check out those fish lips!! :)