Picton North

The road to Picton

The Alaskan transplant with his salmon.

The ferry to the north island.

At 7:30 AM, four people buckled in, trunk filled with suitcases, back backs, collapsible cooler with the cold food, duck taped cardboard  box of dry ingredients and the trusty "Holstein Cow" lunch bag.  On to Picton, via the Queen Charlotte Drive, that the "rhubarb man" said we shouldn't miss.  It saved us 30 kilometers, followed the coastline, was extremely curvy and beautiful.  In Picton, we happened upon a Farmers' market, that was also not to be missed.  We added Hazelnuts to our luggage, from a man who gained his expertise at Oregon State.  He planted 3,000 trees as a retirement venture, and now sends them all over the world .  Salmon will be one of our next meals, bought from a man from Juneau, Alaska, who started raising them in Queen Charlotte Sound.  The smoked fish pie, and roasted strawberry shortcake needed a home, and then we needed some treats to take home.

The green mussels we didn't get to try.

The salmon farm

Once we checked our bags for the ferry to Wellington, we spread out our sula tablecloth, and enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal, roasted chicken on croissants with cream cheese and Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce.  The 3 1/2 hour ferry ride to the north island, felt like cruising through The San Juan's of Washington.  We saw two commercial mussel farms, and also the two salmon farms owned by the man we met at the farmers' market.  The rest of the trip was a leisurely cruise through the sounds and over to Wellington.