New Zealand; Day 4

Up at 5am for the free local 6am shuttle to catch the 7am train. Ugghhh! However, the effort was totally worth it.

The Tranz Coastal train runs from Christchurch to Picton, up the east coast and along the north. Our ticket included the Interisland ferry to Wellington, which made the day incredibly picturesque and relaxing. We saw lots of cows and sheep, areas just north of Christchurch where the ground had cracked open during the earthquake, seals asleep on rocks in the water, vineyards, a salt processing facility, snow-capped mountains and a border collie chasing the train like his life depended on it.

Our seats were in the middle carriage, and we had four seats with a table in the middle all to ourselves. There was also an open-to-the-air viewing carriage near the front, which Eleanor loved. Despite the early start it's a trip well worth taking, and we commented several times how much easier and more relaxing it was than trying to drive.

The ferry was probably just as scenic, but Eleanor found the family area full of toys, TVs and other distractions and couldn't be budged. It was right in the middle of the boat, so while we could sort of see out the windows it wasn't that much of a view. Having got to bed late and up so early she was showing definite signs of a meltdown. A deck of playing cards bought us some peace for a little while.

Fortunately I found the nursery area, which was some of the original cabins converted to include a cot and two tub chairs. We put her in the cot and she cried and cried that she didn't want a nap, but by the end of the story her eyes were closing and she was struggling to remain sitting upright. After toppling over a few times and righting herself again Bevan made her lay down, and it only took 90 seconds of half-hearted sooking before she was out cold. Half her luck; I really wanted a nap, too.

Our car for the North Island is, once again, a Subaru Outback. However the Ferry Terminal car hire where we picked it up from didn't have any GPS units and the car didn't have a street directory, so we were on our own in down-town, peak-hour Wellington with only basic tourist promotional maps and waaaaay too many one way streets. It didn't help that most of them are only one way for part of their length, and that the two maps we had showed the arrows going in different directions on a key thoroughfare.

Fortunately we found our hotel, which is right next to a decent Chinese restaurant so we didn't have to think too hard about what to get for dinner. Frankly we were all just too tired to think too hard. Once Eleanor was in bed I headed out to the airport to pick up the GPS they'd put aside for us at the Europecar desk out there. And on the way back it was a quick stop at a supermarket to pick up some laundry detergent, ready to give our apartment's washing machine a thorough work out tomorrow.