We left our motel at 6.45am after a restless night keeping an eye on the time. Walked over to the ferry building in the rain which hadn’t stopped since about 1,00pm yesterday. Someone in my party of two allowed over an hour to walk 2 or 3 hundred metres to the ferry terminal. Just in case we were late. Temperature had dropped a lot also. Very cold waiting on the wharf. Ferry got underway at 8.00am . There was no wind, no sun, cold and drizzling as my photos will show. Took 50mins to cross over the water. Then got the boat company’s bus which took us back up to Invercargill staying at the Quest Apartments. We were the only ones on the bus so the driver took us along to Bluff Point for a photo. Fortunately I rang the hotel yesterday explaining we were arriving in on the early ferry so they said they would get housekeeping to do our room first so we could have an early check in. Got settled in then had a walk around the city. Sooo quiet after Auckland not many people around out shopping. Picked up something to cook for dinner then back to the apartment to watch the cricket.
We had a farewell from the beach in front of the hotel as we were leaving.
A great day to cross the crossing. No wind and flat calm.Misty light rain.
Waiting for our ferry.
Here she comes
Berthing the ferry that we will be doing the crossing on.
I don’t think many people realise how small the area is on Stewart Island that is habitable. The map above is all of Stewart Island and the area that I have put a red ring around is all that is habitable.
This is a close up of the ringed area on the above map which really shows how little of the Island is occupied. If you zoom in on this map it shows the total amount of roads (in yellow)on the whole Island. So you can see it doesn’t take long to travel on these roads.
On our way back across the straight leaving Stewart Island behind us.
Perfect conditions on the water. It was this calm all the way.
Very misty with very light drizzle.
Passengers on the boat including the kids that went over to the Island with us. Kids on the left side.
Bluffs famous road signs at Stirling Point which marks the Southern end of state highway 1 in the North Island. The Point is memorable for the large signpost displaying distances to major cities in the world. A photo of this signpost is a must for your travel journey. We got the company bus (that runs the ferries,) back into Invercargill. As we were the only passengers the driver took us out of his way around the Bluff Point to get this famous photo opportunity.
Going along in the bus note the driver had his little dog coming along for the ride. The dog I am holding in the above photo.
This giant anchor /chain sculpture at Stirling Point Bluff and the sculpture of the end of the chain we saw at Mamaku Point on Stewart Island, represents the connection between Bluff and Stewart Island.
We went to see these displays in a huge hardware shop/ coffee shop/ museum. A few shots of old motorbikes, cars and a replica of The Worlds Fastest Indian.
A replica, one of two of The Worlds Fastest Indian. These two bikes were used in the New Zealand part of the filming.
This old model Mini has been converted into a racing Mini.
Now here’s a real old beauty above and below.
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Our Apartment room at the Quest Invercargill. Room 209
All nicely renovated.
Standing in the middle of Main Street Invercargill. Not a lot of traffic like in Auckland.
Looking down town the other way
Some street art
Note the name of the Artist below of this street art above.
This was in the main street .” Hare to Shop”
Well, our south end of the South Island is over. It’s been a great trip, great weather on the whole and finally got to iStewart Island ✔️ off. We enjoyed our time over there. A different little world of its own. But not forgetting our first night Ettrick, going up through Gore beautiful farmland, the lovely town of Cromwell, Through the pretty town of Arrowtown onto Queensland, followed by Te Anau. The superb area including Manapouri and Fiordland. Down to Bluff across to Stewart Island. Invercargill and back home tomorrow.
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