This is a short travel vlog (YouTube) by Nate Buchanan documenting a day driving from a campsite to Picton on New Zealand's South Island, booking a Cook Strait vehicle ferry to the North Island, then exploring Wellington that evening. Key moments: roadside ferry booking about three hours before departure, a quick lunch (peanut butter sandwich with banana and honey), driving onto and riding the ~3.5-hour ferry while sitting in the car, scenic views of the North Island and Wellington (Oriental Bay), visiting Mount Victoria lookout, trying gelato/ice cream (tiramisu and biscotti flavors mentioned), and returning to a campground north of Wellington for the night.
Chapters
Foreign.
This morning we're going to be driving from our campsite, which is right around here, all the way up to the northern part of the south island in Picton. Then we're going to take the three and a half hour ferry ride to the north island and probably stay somewhere around Wellington. That's to be determined.
Just in case you ever find yourself camper vanning through New Zealand, wondering how far in advance should I book my ferry from the south island to the North Island? We just pulled over here on the side of the road. It's about three hours until the ferry leaves. I'm going to push this green button right here to book our ferry.
I did something wrong. Try number two.
Hey, we're booked.
We just pulled over on the side of the road again to make a quick lunch before we get on the ferry.
What are we having for lunch?
Kibi and banana and honey and cheer up.
We discovered this amazing new addition to a peanut butter sandwich.
I'm being told that we are going to drive onto the ferry and then we get to sit in the car.
That's what a ferry is. You drive your vehicle onto the boat.
I've never done this.
Kara's never been on a ferry before.
I didn't know you could do this.
I don't know if we'll get to stay in our car. I think I've been on a ferry like once when I was little.
I just haven't told us anything. Like we've just been sitting here.
We've used the strategy that we used in most Asian countries where we couldn't understand the language. Get in line and follow what everybody else does.
Hello. Just two people. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. To the top.
Thank you. To the top.
Here we go.
Sam.
This is how Kara spent her time on the cruise.
It's too cold outside.
I was enjoying the ferry ride. It was super scenic. And now we've hit the open waters and everything's really wavy and I'm just trying not to get sick.
That's what I feel like.
Should have taken some Dramamine. That's our first view of the North Island.
I'm very impressed with my first ferry ride. It felt like a cruise ship except for you had to pay for everything. We are currently driving through Wellington. It looks like a really cool city. We don't know if we're gonna have time to be here in the morning. And so we're gonna see as much as we can tonight. Currently we're driving through the Oriental Bay.
Oh, look at that. We are going up to The Mount Victoria lookout so we can look out over the city at night.
And after that, we might try to go grab ice cream, because we've heard have good ice cream here.
And the campsite that we're staying at tonight is like, 30 minutes north of Wellington. So we're not sure if we're gonna have time to come back in the morning because we already have, like, a four and a half hour drive. So we'll make a game time decision in the morning.
We made it to the lookout.
See the van down there with its lights on? Pretty sure that's ours. Really hope it starts.
Nate's getting nervous. He started running.
Hopefully it starts.
No problem.
We only have one night here in Wellington, and we heard the cool, hip place to go was chemistry.
So that's where we are.
Lots of coffee shops and hopefully some good ice cream.
We went with tiramisu and biscotti.
This looks like legit gelato. We had gelato this trip.
I don't think we have.
It's like the best cookies and cream I've ever had. I'd say. Say we chose two good activities for our short night in Wellington.
Yeah.
Going to powder campground.
What? Why did you get out of the car?
This is right next to me. Oh, my gosh. It's so huge and so.
Wet.
Yeah, it is down in your door. Oh, my gosh.
It's gonna come out and bite me because I was mean to it.
Yep. Roll it back up. He's coming back for me.
He is died.
Please roll it back up.
He's gonna come back and hurt me. Do you need me to punch you in the face?
Roll it up, Garrett.
It's gonna get hot in here.
Wait, you need me to punch you in the face?
I don't enjoy you completely ignoring me with the camera in my face.
