Long Ride to Picton

To Picton, New Zealand

We were up relatively early this morning for our lengthy bus ride to Picton. The ride was much longer than normal due to the earthquake just six months ago that wreaked havoc on the coastal road. The alternate route led far to the west, through the mountains, before heading east again.

We were convinced we’d missed the bus when 10 minutes after the listed departure time, another bus pulled up and the driver informed us that we should have been at the central station, not at the listed bus stop outside the Northlands mall. We were just looking into other travel options, realizing we might miss the next day's ferry ride as well ... when the bus suddenly appeared. Whew.

On the bus, Meg met a French woman, Sandrine, that like us has been traveling for many, many months and would not be done until August. At the first bathroom stop, our driver informed us to be back at ten to the hour. When the driver started to leave after cursory head count, we pointed out that one man, the man that had been sitting next to me, had not returned. Sandrine was aghast at the drivers refusal to wait for the missing passenger and his dismissal of the claim based on his cursory headcount; “Everyone’s here,” he announced. Unfortunately, Gustav Nordquist’s belongings -- money, credit card and passport -- were still on his seat and presumably his bags below in the cargo hold. We never found out exactly what happened to him, but we did complain to the bus company and tried to email Gustav based on the email address we found in his bag.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, but in typical New Zealand fashion, breathtakingly beautiful.

Dex, Sandrine, and Kylie

When we finally arrived in the coastal town of Picton, we walked the twenty minutes to the campground and were excited to see of a couple stingrays and an 11 arm sea star in the marina. Despite not having our van any more, we chose another Top 10 campground staying in one of the cute little detached rooms there since they were one of the cheaper housing options. With a pool and pedal cars, I’m pretty sure Kylie and Dex were ok with that decision. They were also ok with our restaurant choice that offered great meals and, a first for us, a Stop Light drink. The kids gave it the thumbs up.

Mischief makers!

A Stoplight