Travelogue by Mom of Three

We woke up early, as we had to board the 8.30am Interislander ferry to cross the beautiful Cook Strait to Picton, a pretty seaside town, which is one of the main gates to explore the marvellous South Island. Bye bye North Island, Hello South Island.  We are boarding the big ship, together with our vehicle. The 92km voyage took 3 hours and all of us wished it could be a little longer, as we did not have enough of the beautiful Cook Strait.   3 hours passed by in the blink of an eye.  Papa Bear and Brother Bear spent most of their time at the open deck, feasting on the amazingly beautiful views and 'enjoying' the strong wind.  We, the 3 girls, spent our time watching a little bit of cartoons, sipping some hot drinks, playing at the indoor playground and most of the time joining the boys outside.   The TV area.  The indoor playground.    The magnificent view.   Do you like the background colours?  So picturesque.  Interislander was awesome in every

Jan supplied us with self-help continental breakfast, namely fruit juice, milk, wholewheat bread with grains for toast, her homemade marmalade and raspberries jam, cereal and a few others.  The healthy breakfast gave us a great start!   If it wasn't cold and chilly, we would love to have our breakfast in the garden, overseeing Jan's fruit trees and herbal plants.    After breakfast, we walked over to Jan's main house, which was next door, to pay her the accommodation fee and talked to her for awhile.   It was a pleasure knowing her, she is so kind and friendly.   The front view of The Coach House B&B.  Jan's house is located in a quiet neighbourhood.  We enjoyed the view and peacefulness of this neighbourhood, which we did not get to see when we arrived last night.  The houses of the locals are unique and some of those look like what we would imagine in our dreams or through the books - little white wooden houses and of course some grand mansions.   Napi

Papa Bear and the 2 elder cubs woke up early for another round of farm tour.   This time, they managed to go nearer to the animals.  Brother Bear was very happy as he loves animals a lot.   Baby Bear was a bit cranky, she wanted to nurse, hence we both missed the fun.  OK, I had to admit I was happy to sleep in, hehe... Brother Bear loves NZ very much, as NZ spells nature, farm animals and love. :) George and Alan's beautiful dining area.  Lake Rotorua was within our sight.   We bid George and Alan goodbye after another meal of sumptuous breakfast.   We stopped by Lake Rotorua to take some pictures.  Lake Rotorua was very beautiful, I love its blue water, it was a very special blue which I had not seen before.   Sitting at the bench facing the lake, accompanied by a good book and a glass of wine, in the cool weather, would be a very enjoyable experience for sure.  This would only happen on our next visit perhaps, as we could not stay long, we had to depart soon. L