The Voyage of Sleep

Having spent a few extra days in Wellington, I was now on a coach with a different group of people and of course a new driver. We drove the ten minutes to the ferry terminal, ready to board the Inter-islander to Picton on the South Island.
The ferry between the two islands takes three hours and can be quite rough. Although the ferry is huge, with several decks, restaurants, bars and a cinema I'd heard the choppy waters can make for a rather unpleasant crossing.
I'd bought some "Sealegs" tablets the day before, and took two the obligatory thirty minutes before we set sail. I found I knew one of my fellow Kiwi passengers from my first bus, so we were able to catch up.
There are many comfortable reclining seats on the ferry and we found a spot and settled in.
This is all I remember until our arrival into the Marlborough Sounds was announced over the tannoy two and a half hours later. I have no idea if the crossing was rough or not, but I had a terrific sleep!

Somehow I managed to take a photo.

Unfortunately I still needed to sleep when we boarded the bus at Picton and made our way to a Vineyard for a wine tasting. I managed to wake myself for this jaunt, only to fall fast asleep as soon as we boarded the bus again.
I should mention, I don't really like sleeping on buses, or planes, or trains, for fear of my ridiculous jerky movements in my sleep. I once fell asleep on a bus listening to music on my headphones and woke up clapping, with people staring at me. I can only assume I woke to hear clapping on my ipod and felt the need to join in.
I imagine I made a bad impression on the Kiwi bus, having slept for the 5 or so hours I was travelling with this new bunch of people.
We stopped in Nelson for an overnight and I'd planned to stay an extra night. As it happens I woke up the next day with a sore throat and was glad of the time out. It was in Nelson I bumped into Sian and Sarah again (originally met in Maui, then Fiji) and took a day trip to Abel Tasman National Park with them. The park is named after the Ducthman who first sighted New Zealand, but never landed, silly Dutchman.
The travelling world is very small, if I'd wanted to avoid Sian and Sarah it would be impossible, we continued to meet up through out our separate tours of the South Island over the following weeks.
Sian and Sarah had hired a car, so we drove out to the start of the Abel Tasman trail and walked the a hour and a half to Appletree Bay. It was another beautifully sunny day.