We left the small North Island of New Zealand and headed to the large South Island.

Our ship left the southern gate of the North Island -

Wellington

- to sail to the northern gate of the South Island - the New Zealand port of

Picton

.

Here are the last pictures of the hilly "city of winds" - the capital of New Zealand - taken from the departing ship.


It takes about two hours to sail from Wellington to the nearest point of the South Island. The strait separating the two main islands of New Zealand is called Cook Strait. In total, the ship sails for 3 hours 10 minutes, because 1 hour and 10 minutes she sails along the northern fjords of the South Island.

Our ferry was met by the first animals of the South Island - by the cows.

Some New Zealanders build small houses surrounded by mountains from all sides, you can get there only by boat. The northern territories of the South Island have a lot of houses like this one. The New Zealanders call such houses "baches".

You can also meet "salmon farms" in these waters.

Often these "baches" are simply the unofficial land grab.

It's great to have such house surrounded by mountains with green forests right on the shore of very blue water.

Here are landscapes of the northern "fjord" of the South Island. This northern fjord is called Marlborough Sounds.

Although the island is called the southern, early spring is cool here and it is cold and windy on the ship.

Picton

appeared on the horizon - the port gate of the South Island.

The town with a population of only 3,500 inhabitants, located in Queen Charlotte Sound, has both the port for connection with the North Island and a railway station to travel deeper in the South Island.

The first photo on the land of the South Island.

This is the port of Picton.

The town is very small, but, like all the New Zealand's provinces, it's very tidy.

This is the memorial in Picton dedicated to victims of the First World War. No matter how far from Europe New Zealand is, nevertheless, it took part both in World War I and in the Second World War.

In 1914, about 7,000 New Zealand's soldiers, along with Australian "comrades", went to distant Europe to fight on the side of the British Empire, which fought in the First World War on the side of the Entente. All together, they formed Anzac - the Australian and New Zealand military corps.
They landed on the territory of Turkey, which fought on the side of Germany on the Gallipoli peninsula.

The Turks, after conducting the Dardanelles operation, killed almost the whole corps. Only about 1500 survived. The mass extermination of young people "for the idea" on the other side of the globe served as a great lesson for New Zealand. Since then Anzac Day has been celebrated here as a day of remembrance. This is an official holiday in Australia and New Zealand.

This is a monument in small Picton to 5500 dead soldiers.

Let's continue our tour of the South Island (New Zealand. Moving to the South Island. P.2)!