New Zealand, Day 9

Of course, the weather as we left Kaikoura was beautiful. We could finally see the mountains, we hadn't been able to the past couple days because of the awful weather. The combination of the bright turquoise water and natural green mountains was picturesque! We enjoyed the view for a little while before we were out of town and headed north to Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island. We stopped a few minutes away from a hostel at another seal colony where there were tons of baby deals spread all over the rocks! So cute! There were hundreds all over the place. We left the seal colony and drove all along the coastline for a while. I wish I had more time to appreciate how pretty Kaikoura really was in the sunlight, rather than in clouds and rain. I can't complain though, we've truly been blessed with wonderful weather thus far. After getting breakfast, we drove through Marlborough ( WINE COUNTRY) straight on through to Picton. I wanted to stop so badly! So many vineyards were passing left and right. Can't we just stop for a morning taste?! Nope. We kept driving through the wonderful mountains. We shortly arrived in Picton and boarded the ferry. The ferry was massive ,by the way. It was literally a cruise ship. It had 10 decks! I've never been on a boat so big before. The trip over to the North Island took about 3 1/2 hours. Not too bad, as there was many entertainment options available on board. We cruised all through luscious green mountains and bright blue water. What beautiful nature, I just can't get enough of it. We arrived in Wellington, a smaller type city and stayed at a nice hotel overlooking the city. We were getting sick of the hostels and decided to stay somewhere nicer for a few nights, so worth it! The had a gym and a spa, perfect. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Portofino's for dinner. I had a nice seafood dish & Karen, typical American, branched out and had spaghetti! Ciao.