On to Picton

With the wahing dry we left Mana and headed down to the Wellington waterfront to watch the start of the Volvo Ocean race fourth leg. It seems to be a lot of fuss for six boats however they do move fast. We then drove round to Petone to suss out where we were to have the tyres fitted on Monday morning. I managed to get driving up steep narrow roads through a residential suburb - as you do in Wellington! We eventually stopped, asked a man watering his garden for directions and were put on the right track. We then rested on the Petone foreshore for the afternoon, cooked and ate dinner. I went for a walk along a reserve and found another motor home parked in a parking area by the shore. This was our spot for the night too. Monday morning saw us up early and collecting our new tyres at 8AM. Firestone Commercial fitted these and after an hour wandering the streets of Petone we were on our way round to the ferry. Petone is an interesting place. Old and slightly run down, but not derelict. With us on the ferry were the Busses and house trucks of the Gypsy Fair who were crossing to the South Island for eleven weeks.
While we were sitting down Jon Olds joined us and by the time we had finished talking about yachting and children we were nearly in Picton. As we were waiting to get off I phoned Tiri Manahi, a topdressing pilot friend from way back. Tiri and his wife Fran allowed us to park on their drive for the night and we had a great catch up! We left in the morning and headed off round Queen Charlotte Drive and have now stopped for lunch at Ngakuta Bay.