Wellington – Picton – Blenheim (for Jan. 19)

Weather is better again. Mostly sunny, mild temperature, and light wind.

Not much to report today. We got a fairly early start to check out of the hotel, gas up the car, find our way to the ferry terminal, find the rental car return, and check in for the ferry. It took a while to find the terminal, because there was no exit from the freeway, so we had to exit elsewhere and work our way back. At the terminal, it took a while to find the rental car return. Our instructions were to return it to the public parking and leave the keys with the attendant. We drove past one public parking area yesterday and drove past it again today, because the sign listed every rental company but ours. We figured there had to be somewhere else, but finally decided to try this place. The attendant said that this was the place, our rental company was just too cheap to pay to have their name on the sign.

The three hour ferry ride was uneventful. I studied my camera manual to see if I could make better use of its features. Celeste watched some TV and had a short nap. I thought we would be in open water for quite a while, but most of the trip was in the sheltered waters of Wellington’s long harbour and the strait leading to the opposite terminal at Picton. After trading our Nissan Maxima in at Wellington for a Holden (GM) Commodore Executive in Picton, picking up a few groceries, and having something to eat, we were on the road about 3:30.

We stopped in Blenheim, a city of 26,000+, to check out Brayshaw Museum Park, which had a reconstructed colonial village, antique farm equipment, and a miniature railway. This is not your average Lionel miniature train, but something big enough to ride on. The track width was about one foot, so it might be something like the old train they had at Kiddieland in Regina, for those of you that can remember that far back. It only runs every second Sunday during the summer, so we didn’t see it in operation, but

it had quite the impressive track layout. I took a few pictures for Greg Hebert. We were there pretty late, so we had to rush through everything, but most of the exhibits were behind glass anyway.

We checked into a motel around 6 and went for a walk around the quaint and pretty downtown. If you think they roll up the sidewalks early in Regina, you should try Blenheim!

Celeste decided that she would like fish and chips for her birthday, so we found a phone booth, found the only fish and chip place listed, and hiked down there. We were pretty pooped by the time we got back to the motel.