Picton Bay, New Zealand

We flew from Brisbane to Wellington, New Zealand, spent one night in the hotel before getting on a puddle jumper flight over the Cook Strait to go from the North Island to top of New Zealand's South Island. 

We only got a night in Picton Bay, but it was beautiful. We flew in over its famous wineries (Kate's favorite Sauvignon Blanc) and took a shuttle into town where we rented an apartment for the night. 

The next day we headed back to the North Island, taking the ferry this time. Whereas the flight over took us 45 minutes, the return trip was 3 1/2 hours navigating the Queen Charlotte Sound where we had still blue waters, high cliffs on both sides and porpoises jumping to the side of our ship along the whole path. Then we came out to the Cook Strait and had a whole other experience. The sea was choppy and the wind was high. Despite being on a huge ferry, it rocked from side to side. Kate and Hattie get motion sickness easily, so they pulled off their magic trick that protects them when things get bad...they went to sleep until we got to still waters again.