31/12/17

Day two

When morning came, we woke in panic, realising my phone hadn't charged and our 5:50 am alarm didn‘t go off. I imagined our ferry already halfway to Picton.  Instead, we were ten minutes early for our set wake-up time, and made it onto the impressive Bluebridge Ferry with lots of time to spare. Eyelids heavy and subconsciously eavesdropping on conversations, I heard travellers make plans and the staff mumble about their twelve hour shifts. The wind was heavy. I drank coffee while Tash slept. We arrived in Picton just before midday, the town looking somewhat different to how I had imagined it would be. Tourists and travellers everywhere, Tash and I two of them. We headed straight for the supermarket for some cheap, picnic lunch that we consumed just as the seagulls had formed a circle around us and our leftover crumbs, which they nibbled as we fled the scene. Blenheim was humble and slow-paced, the looming grey skies seeping into and destroying our beach desires.  We drove to Whites Bay nonetheless, a beautiful East Coast beach surrounded in bush, where we hopped from the beautiful black sand to an unexpectedly steep forest walk up Rarangi Hill, our conversation becoming stream of consciousness-like, our hearts beating faster and our legs growing tired.  These were the moments I loved, when we got so lost in the moment, lost in nature and lost of all doubt and hypothetical obstacle in the way of our big plans for the year ahead. 
We spent the evening devouring delicious pizza from Dodson Street Beer Garden and overestimating how much beer we could drink. Picton greeted us and the night with eclectic live music and a hard time finding a soy hot chocolate. Unsurprisingly, half an hour later, we gave into the temptation of skipping the rain and taking the road back to our tent to enjoy Ben Howard’s gentle tunes and some reflective writing times before midnight and the new year rolled in  A quiet but peaceful way to celebrate such occasion, I say. 


Photos: 

1, 2, 3) Bluebridge ferry trip from Wellington to Picton

4) Putting up the tent at our campground in Bleheim
5, 6, 7) White's Bay beach, before and after our hill walk



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