The roosters woke us up at 5:30, so I made coffee and sat by the door to watch the light rain coming down. Annemarie made breakfast from the bread, homemade jam and eggs from the chickens that were provided, then we helped with the morning animal feeding before heading to the train station for the last leg of our train trip, to Picton.
The weather held out for about half the train ride so we spent the time in the open air car.
Soon we were in Picton and on the ferry. Since we were both tired I decided to splurge and got us seats in the Queen Charlotte Lounge. This gave us guaranteed seats – large, comfy leather recliners – in an area that was quiet and kid-free, plus food vouchers worth half the price of the seats. We got in early so snagged window seats with extra room on the side. I didn’t realize how lucky we were until an hour into the voyage, when I left the lounge to get some food and saw how crowded and noisy it was everywhere else. I couldn’t wait to get back to my serene space!
We had an easy, if somewhat wet, journey back to Wellington. We had a fantastic time, I feel so lucky to have had this time with Annemarie, she’s a great travel companion.
