Day 5 Crossing Cook Straight and on to Nelson

We left Levin early with our rain gear on in a light mist, praying that it wouldn't get wetter. We were blessed, and by the time we arrived in Wellington for the Cook Straight Ferry the sun was high the sky. We had to strap our bikes down on the ferry because there is a great deal of turbulence in the straight which separates the North and South islands. The turbulence is the result of the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meeting in the straight. High tide in the Tasman occurs about 5 hours before the Pacific.

The ferry ride was a nice respite after 3 days of hard riding. 3 hours to let someone else do the driving. There are two ways to get to Nelson from Picton, the main route or Queen Charlotte Drive. As we like to do we took the road less traveled, QCD which is a cliff hugging road down the coast. David and I agreed that it was the most twisty yet. At the end of QCD is the seaside village of Havelock, Green shell mussel capital of the world. We had some, they are big, fat and tasty. We finished our beer and mussel snack and headed for Nelson a pretty city that is a popular, holiday home and retirement haven.

We had an experience that demonstrates the kindness virtually all we have met in NZ have shown us. I had what I thought were good directions to our B&B, but we ended up in downtown Nelson without finding our turn. As we turned around to head back up the street, two women got out of their car and I asked if they knew where the street we were seeking was. They said no but where are you going, I said the Monaco Shells B&B on the Monaco penisula. they said we live on the penisula, and proceeded to try and tell us the way. We were confused so they said we'll just show you then come back and get our Chinese takeaway. We said no we'll wait for you, thinking it must be close and we didn't want to put them out. They got there takeaway and we followed them to our B&B which was about 20 mins. away.

We arrived at Monaco Shells about 5 PM and were greeted by our host Paul Shelling who operates the B&B with his wife Ruth. They are both empty-nester schoolteachers with 3 grown daughters. They are fine Christian couple that spent 2 years with their family in a teaching ministry in New Guinea. We had a great room and bath and had access to another room to spread out. Paul left early so Ruth provided us with a fine continental breakfast as well as family history and directions to our early destination. The photo is Ruth and Carley.