Ferry to the North Island

After yesterday's grey clouds we awoke to another beautiful day. We had slightly dated facilities at the campsite but a beautiful spot to camp next to the river. A cup of tea, brekkie and we headed out for the day. Having decided it was going to be too early to wine taste we headed to the aviation museum.

It's basically Peter Jackson's private collection which he has loaned to the museum. Having directed a number of movies including the Lord of the Rings trilogy he isn't short of money and has been collecting since he was a young teenager. They're currently building a world war two exhibition but at the moment it's dedicated purely to the planes and artefacts of world war one "Knights of the Sky".

I've visited a number of world war two aviation museums such as Biggin Hill and Duxford back in England but you rarely see many artefacts on the fighter pilots of the first war. We took the guided tour and it's a very well put together museum. The planes are a mixture of originals and replicas, they all have manekin pilots and generally tell a story of one particular pilot and event. A lot have two planes locked together in a replica dogfight.

It brings the whole exhibition to life and along with a knowledgeable and interesting guide we spent a lovely few hours wandering the hangers. There's a section on the famous Manfred von Richtoven "The Red Baron" who as an ace shot down 80 allied planes before his death. The museum has a number of his celebratory pieces of silverware and the original linen cross, cut from his wing once he'd crash landed.

It was really interesting to read about the differences between Allied and Axis forces. The Allied forces weren't given parachutes as it was thought they'd use them too readily and risk losing valuable aeroplanes, the German pilots could chose if they carried them. The Raf did however give its pilots standardised clothing while the Germans had to buy their own. The British leather jackets and boots were the envy of their enemy and much sought after if a pilot crash landed. The pilots biggest fear was fire and they were sometimes able to jump from the plane before crashing and save themselves from the planes.

There was also a significant difference in how they celebrated downing enemy planes. The allies tended to make trophies out of old propellers and materials they could find. The Germans had silverware commissioned to celebrate their victories. Von Richtoven had a small silver cup made for every kill and a larger cup for every tenth! 

One thing remained the same between both sets of pilots. There was a comoradarie between them, they were generally well off gentlemen and had originally been cavalry men before planes overtook horses on the battlefield. Planes were very unreliable during the war but the lifestyle must have been far better than that of the troops in the trenches!

Leaving the museum we didn't have time for a vineyard visit so instead headed to Moa brewery and shop. It's run by a German guy who happily told us it was the best move he ever made. He was a trained chef for a number of years and started the business here among the vineyards. It's a beautiful spot and I think I could convince Carly to let me do something similar! I had a lovely time choosing a case from their vast range of brews!

We swung by a vineyard afterwards to pick up a nice bottle of something for our hosts tonight. My ex-colleague Elle met a New Zealand guy living in London and moved out here a few months ago. They're living in Wellington and are kindly putting us up for the next two nights. It turns out you can't just swing by a vineyard and pick up a bottle! They talked us through the wines and tried to get us to do a tasting, free but we sadly needed to get our ferry! The food looked amazing! We'll have to come back here I think!

We made it to check in for the ferry and enjoyed a quick lunch in queue for the trip. They don't do things by halves in New Zealand. Even the ferry ride between islands us beautiful. The cook straits can be pretty rough but today it was beautiful as we cruised out of Marlborough Sounds in the gorgeous sun. The crossing is 3.5 hours and we had a lovely journey relaxing and taking in the views. A scone with cream and jam, Earl Grey tea and a salted caramel choc tart helped pass the time!

We arrived in Wellington just before 6pm and after waiting to disembark we had a short trip over to Elle & Lukes. It was so nice to spend an evening with friends and we were totally spoilt! For dinner we had a yummy veggie lasagne and had a lovely evening chatting about travelling, New Zealand and their time here together.

It was so lovely to see them in their lovely appartment and the food was delicious. It's been two months since we'd had lovely home cooked food! We sat around chatting into the evening and making plans for tomorrow. They're both settling well in their new place and Elle starts her new job Monday. It's all really exciting!

We finished the evening with Luke's uncles port and off to bed for a fun day in Wellington tomorrow!