We arrived in Picton in the
morning after a stormy night. The winds
were fierce and the ship was definitely rocking! The bridge said that the winds were in excess
of 150 km. I wasn’t about to argue the
point! It made it hard to fall asleep,
but once sleep came it lasted all night.
Around 7:00 we got up to look outside
and found calm seas, sunny skies and incredibly beautiful scenery. It was much like
travelling in the narrow passageways up in Alaska, however, the vegetation is
so very different to our evergreens.
Here the trees look like stems of broccoli and the chorus of bird songs emanating
from the forest were so full of melody.
Just being out on the deck watching and listening – it was a feast for
the senses. Before we docked, we were
guided by a tug to make a 180 degree turn in a very narrow passage. It was fascinating watching as we spun right
on the spot to complete this manoeuver. Then,
we actually backed into the dock so that later when it was time to leave, the
ship would be able to cast away and move forward.  |
| Broccoli trees |
Upon arriving on shore of this
small community, there were 3 wonderful Picton ladies ready to greet us and to
give us a small corsage to wear for the day.
In the baskets containing these lovely gestures of welcome were orchids,
freesia and small native plants – varied and beautiful blooms grown in their own
gardens. This made for a memorable
beginning to a great time ashore. We are
the first ship of the season and then next arrival isn’t until November – we certainly
felt special!
This town relies heavily on two
important items of commerce. One is
lumber and the other is tourism. There
was a wonderful craft market set up in town for our arrival. It was such a lovely day and I so enjoyed my
walk amongst the residents displaying their handmade items. I have to admit, I contributed heavily to
2015 tourist season being one of their most successful! I was very happy to do
my part and now I have some lovely items to take back home to remember my time
here. In talking to the merchants in and
around the town, I was told that last year there were 17 ships that visited this
lovely little spot – this year they are expecting 44! How wonderful for them and how lucky for any
passengers to be welcomed to this New Zealand gem!
1 comment:
Hi you two,
Wonderful news for Picton and what an increase in their ship count! They seem to have found a way to make their piece of the world a destination and their efforts at welcoming you obviously worked. The winds sounded fierce. I would think that being on deck in winds of that nature would be dangerous. Did they close the decks during the night or just let people fly off at random? (I am still not a robot!)
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