Those traveling all of New Zealand, not just the North or South Island will have to cross the Cook Strait either by plane or boat. Facing the added expense of both options can be a bit concerning for travelers on a budget.

Luckily, Interislander makes the crossing more than just a mode of transportation, but also a great activity to add to the agenda. Passengers can expect jaw dropping views through the Marlborough Sounds, onboard food and entertainment, maybe even a few dolphins swimming beside the ship.

While on a recent ferry crossing with Interislander from Wellington to Picton, I said a few times, “Now this is how to travel.”

Amenities

Interislander is set up similar to a cruise ship. It offers a few eateries, a bar, a movie theater, several lounges and viewing platforms, a children’s play area, a travel information center with a real live person on site to help book trips, VIP sections, even a lounge for truck drivers.

I boarded early in the morning and headed straight to the cafeteria for breakfast. At $12, the big breakfast was extremely reasonable considering how much airlines and ferries usually charge people for food these days. Expect your standard cafeteria food. Visit the cafe for better meals.

Big breakfast served on board. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

One of the ship's dining areas. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

The only other purchase I made was an hour or 40MB of internet at $7. I would only purchase it to do a few little things online, but I found the connection extremely good considering we were out to sea and in the middle of nowhere most of the time.

The majority of my time on board was spent either napping on the ferry’s big, comfy lounge chairs or on the top deck checking out the views.

Sights

The top deck was definitely the place to be on the clear summer day I traveled. Views are absolutely stunning sailing through the Sounds with massive mountains cascading into blue and green waters.

I was even lucky enough to watch a pod of dolphins swimming and jumping beside the boat. The captain who first spotted them, made sure to announce it to everyone on board.

A view of the Sounds from inside the ferry. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

It seems like wildlife spottings are pretty common through the Marlborough Sounds too. All three times I’ve taken the ferry, each captain announced seeing dolphins. In fact, I’ve actually been on dolphin sighting tours that cost more than my Interislander ferry trip and didn’t give me nearly as good an experience.

Staff

A great interaction with the staff started as soon as we drove onto the ship. One of the staff members directing Ric where to park the car, pretended to be pulling us in on a rope while giving a massive smile. For me, it’s little things like this that always make a trip that much better.

From then on every member of the staff was extremely kind, even fun. The duty manager waited by the exit door bidding everyone farewell at the end of the journey.

Duration

Expect three to four hours for this trip. Those traveling with a car must arrive before final check in, which is usually about an hour before departure, but don’t worry about arriving much earlier than that, as you’ll just have to wait in line.

Ric having a nap during our trip. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Price

People can book through their website, at a ticket counter or through an agent. A single adult ticket with no vehicle costs $NZ52-$NZ75. For two people traveling with a standard sized vehicle, the price is between $NZ215 and $NZ330 depending on what kind of ticket you purchase and time of travel. These prices seem to have stayed the same the few times I have checked.

The cheapest option is a web saver reservation and these are a lot cheaper so it’s beneficial to book as early as possible as only a limited number of these non-refundable reservations are available. Interislander also offers promotions which may be worth looking into.

Thanks to Interislander  for sponsoring our ferry crossing to the South Island. As always, all opinions are my own.

While New Zealand may be known for its extreme sports, sheep and friendly people, it’s the country’s scenery that dominates anyone’s travels here. We spent ten days traveling the country’s South Island from Picton to Milford Sound constantly saying,”Look at that!” or “Wow that’s beautiful!”. Ric said after three days, “You really run out of superlatives for this place.”

He couldn’t have been more right. 

Driving this great country is truly incredible. Every turn presents a new landscape and every bend a sight more breathtaking than the last. We traveled about 2,000 kilometers up, down and through mountains, beside vineyards and crystal clear lakes.

Our general route of the South Island on Google Maps.

No picture or video will ever do this country justice, but hopefully this montage of our drive across the South Island will help people realize why I can so easily declare that New Zealand is by far the most beautiful country I’ve ever traveled.

Thanks to Interislander and Jucy Cruize for sponsoring my ten day South Island adventure. As always, all opinions are my own.

Banner photo taken by Bobbi Lee Hitchon near Milford Sound.

We arrived in Wellington cold, homeless and hungry.

Yes, five months ago we arrived in this city and it’s hard to believe how much has changed. We had no idea where we’d go or what we would see when we first arrived in New Zealand, but we definitely didn’t expect to make such an amazing home in Wellington. This is the tale of what brought us to the windy city and how it blew us away.

After about five months of jobless travel around Asia and America, we took a chance and headed to New Zealand on a working holiday visa instead of saving up at home. We didn’t have a choice really. Since Ric and I are from different countries, this was one of the few easy ways to stay together and work. Parting was out of the question.

So we boarded a plane for a long flight in early July. Destination: Queenstown, but not for long. Queenstown was our original arrival city, because-well it’s Queenstown; winter wonderland, extreme sports, lots of backpackers. Unfortunately, our arrival date was mid-ski season, making it hard to find work. Further, it had yet to snow in Queenstown that season, making it even harder to find work.

On the way from Queenstown to Blenheim in July.

No worries. Ric had a friend he met in Australia living and working in Blenheim. Biggest legend ever, not only did she let us crash at her house for a long time, but also sorted Ric out with a job before he even arrived.

We arrived at the small town in the middle of Marlborough, a huge wine region, and met our friend for drinks. While at a bar, I met a guy who worked in viticulture and he gave me a contact for a local vineyard looking for workers. Next day, I was sorted with a job.

We thought we made it. We thought we were going to be okay. We thought wrong. Family matters had me on a plane back to the States only ten days after arriving. I spent two weeks at home then was on a plane back to New Zealand. Talk about jet lag.

In that time, Ric was ready to leave Blenheim. It’s not the most active town, plus Ric wasn’t doing his passion, cooking, so he had enough. To add to that he had fractured his thumb, making him actually unable to work for a few weeks.

I arrived back in Blenheim with a choice. Either stay in the quiet town doing jobs that weren’t nessarily our favorite or make a move to Wellington, the closest city, and see how it worked out.

We went for Wellington.

It’s not a cheap trip either. Wellington is on the North Island and Blenheim on the South. People must take either a plane or a ferry to get to Wellington from the South Island because they must cross the Cook Strait, either way your looking at spending about $70.

We came to Wellington with one night booked at a hostel, hoping to find a flat, jobs and a routine in a day. That’s when things started to look up.

It was just me job hunting at that point. Ric couldn’t because of his thumb. I felt so much pressure hunting for jobs that day. Between contacting people on TradeMe and walking into places, I had about seven job opportunities within the first day of looking.

I remember sitting at a kebab shop on Courtney Place, nervous but excited about what would come in this city. The owner gave us one of those “buy-ten-kebabs-get-one-free cards”. I wondered if we would even last long enough in this city to get that free kebab.

Ric was in charge of finding us a room. He looked on TradeMe and Easyroommate. We had a few good prospects in just two days of searching. One room and couple looked like an especially good match for us. That night while I had a job trial, Ric looked at a room. At the end of my trial, I had a message on my phone that said, “Come home.” I grabbed my stuff from the hostel and hopped a bus to Mt. Cook.

Since we arrived so late, we didn’t really have time to make our new room comfortable. Our new roomies were nice enough to give us comforters and pillows, but they were covered in cat fur and Ric and I are both allergic. The room only came with a bed, which is actually quite lucky considering most of the rooms we saw came with nothing. We had to make it work though.

God that first night. The matress was so old that the springs had worn out, so Ric and I just kept rolling into eachother in the middle of it. On top of that we were sneezing and coughing all night because of the cat. I’m not writing this as a complaint, just as a funny note on how ridiculous that first night was.

The next day I did a trial at Fidel’s Cafe, pretty much a Wellington icon, and was hired. The next week we both organized our new room, sorting the bed out, using boxes as tables and dressers and putting some art up on the walls. The following week Ric found a job at Hotel Bristol and was hired to do what he loves, cook.

This little door can be found out the back of Fidel's. I fell in love with it when I found it. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Leaving Wellington we are in a completely different situation. We both saved up a lot of money, met so many wonderful people here who were so welcoming, got to experience the World Cup in one of New Zealand’s biggest cities, beat our cat allergies (we both fell in love with the little guy) and we’ll even get to eat that free kebab.

Now that it’s time to say good bye to Wellington, I can’t help but look back on how we arrived and just give the city and all the people in it a massive thanks. I can’t speak on behalf of Ric, but I’ve never had a work place treat me so well and the people working there welcome me so much. We made a home here when we were literally close to being homeless. Everyone here was so amazing, it was a true realization of how kind the kiwi spirit is.

My favorite shot of Rondell, the best cat ever. Photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon

Of course our final fact has to be about Rugby, a game that’s won the hearts of so many Kiwi actaully arrived in New Zealand by South Island in Nelson.

It all started when New Zealander Charles John Monro studied abroad at Christ College, Finchley, England. He played rugby at the school, learned the rules, then returned home to Nelson and shared the sport with New Zealand, making him the “father of New Zealand rugby”.

[Monro] introduced the rules  to the Nelson Football Club in January 1870. He suggested a match be played against Nelson College, whose headmaster, Rev. F.C. Simmons, was himself a former student of Rugby School, as were his two predecessor principals. This led to the historic match four months later.-The Prow

So the first official rugby game ever to take place in New Zealand was on May 14, 1870 between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club.

Boy did it start a frenzy. Today, the All Blacks, New Zealand’s rugby team, is one of the most well-known symbols of the country. Their famed Haka, which is a Maori battle ritual, instills fear in the opposition and gives chills to sports fans worldwide.

Photo of the Nelson College Rugby team in 1876 courtesy of The Prow.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island. 

While there are a few islands owned by New Zealand below the South Island, the actual southernmost point of the South Island is Slope Point. It’s a good milestone to visit, but don’t expect much company in the form of people.

Located just south of Waikawa, Slope Point itself is not accessible by road but is a 20 minute walk along a track. The AA signpost at Slope Point shows the distance to the Equator and the South Pole. The surrounding area is predominantly sheep farming country with spectacularly steep drops down to the sea below. The views are truly amazing over the rocky coastline and surrounding cliffs.-Visit New Zealand

Slope Point is about a four-hour drive from Queenstown.

Banner photo courtesy of Visit New Zealand.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island. 

Come back tomorrow to find out another South Island fact for the final day of our countdown.

The title of this campaign actually contains one of our facts.

What actually is a Sound?

In geography a sound or seaway is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord; or it may be defined as a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.-Wikipedia

Two sounds we’ll be visiting on our trip are the Marlborough Sounds and Milford Sound.

Banner photo by Bobbi Lee Hitchon.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island. 

Come back tomorrow to find out another South Island fact for day 2 of our countdown.

Thanks to Interislander and Jucy Cruize for sponsoring my ten day South Island adventure. As always, all opinions are my own.

Franz Josef Glacier is one of the most impressive sights to see on the South Island. People can actually climb, hike or visit the glacier by helicopter. There are alot of intersting facts about Franz Josef Glacier, here is one of them.

From its origins high in the Southern Alps, the Franz Josef Glacier descends deep into the lush rainforest of Westland’s National Park, from a height of 2700m above sea level to only 240m in as little as 11 km, making it the worlds steepest and fastest flowing commercially guided glacier.-Franz Josef Glacier Guides

Seeing a glacier isn’t a normal item on the agenda of most holidays abroad, which is why Franz Josef is such a special attraction on the South Island.

Banner photo courtesy of Glen Fern.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island. 

Come back tomorrow to find out another South Island fact for day 3 of our countdown.

This fun fact actually comes from fellow travel bloggers Jade and James at Our Oyster. In a recent post, they wrote about Baldwin Street, the steepest residential street in the world, which is in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Baldwin street rises from a shocking 30 meters above sea level to 100 meters above sea level, rising at a gradient of about 1 : 5.-Jade Johnston

A fun little fact and a great stop on any road trip of the South Island.

Banner photo of Baldwin Street courtesy of Mahen “The Guru”.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island. 

Come back tomorrow to find out another South Island fact for day 4 of our countdown.

Nelson is the sunniest town in New Zealand. The usual winner of this hot title, the South Island town topped the charts again in 2011. According to Rotorua Daily Post, Nelson received 2,487 sun hours in 2011.

Banner photo of Tahunanui Beach in Nelson courtesy of New Zealand Pictures.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island. 

Come back tomorrow to find out another South Island fact for day 5 of our countdown.

Everyone knows about the Northern lights, but did you know there are actually Southern Lights too?

It’s possible to see the Southern Lights, also called Aurora Australis, from New Zealand’s most southern points, including Stewart Island. Rakiura, which is what the Maori’s named this island, translates to “The Land of Glowing Skies”, because of this natural phenomenon, as well as the beautiful sunsets that can be seen from the island.

Read more about Aurora Australis.

Banner photo by Paul Moss, featured on Wikipedia, was taken from Bluff on New Zealand’s South Island.

This is part of Heels and Wheels’ countdown to the South Island. Come back tomorrow to find more interesting facts about New Zealand’s South Island

Come back tomorrow to find out another South Island fact for day 6 of our countdown.