Cupcakes in Picton

After a great conversational breakfast with my new Perth friends they headed out to Abel Tasman and I to Picton. It was another incredibly beautiful twisty road made more nerve wracking by over 200 cyclists spread out over about 30 km. They were above the usual laden down crew so I assumed some kind of cycling event or tour.  I was relieved to finally get ahead of them.  I took the scenic route the last 20 km which meant 15km rather than 25km/hr but it was beautiful with views of the fiord all along the way.

Picton is a tiny little place with just 3,000 people at the end of Cook Sound.  I had been warned that when a cruise ship comes in they more than double the population.  When I drove around the top of the last hill there was one in port dominating the view.  Luckily only 800.  They export 40,000 tons of salt and huge amounts of lumber each year especially for a small area.

I checked into my B&B, a lovely place also 100 years old and they have completely refurbished it
.  An old girl from Yorkshire was sitting on the front deck with her leg propped up.  She had twisted her ankle on this the last of 5 days on their time on the Queen Charlotte Track. After I had a bite to eat with her I went exploring the town and lo and behold the cyclists had morphed into runners and were just finishing their half iron man event.  It was both men and women and the Cupcake Team was very inspiring.  Several of them were hefty cupcakes and a couple were pushing 60 or older.  When the last ones would get near the finish line a couple of those that came before would run out to escort their team mate in. The audience decorated the road with drawings of cupcakes and words of cheer.  The whole thing was lovely and very touching.  I decided to eat in one of the restaurants by the finish line and listen to the MC giving out awards.  The over 60 category got the biggest audience response.

I was going to go on an after dinner boat trip up the sound but it is really windy and they owner told me the boat was small and wouldn't be suitable for photography. It would be too wet outside the cabin and too bouncy.  I appreciated his honesty and I'm tired.  I feel pathetic with my 15,000 steps after what those over 60's did today.  Anyway the ferry will take pretty much the same route tomorrow.

My dear readers, I am aware that I am posting more images than in my early days and I hope I'm not flooding you.  It takes less time to do posts now because it is easier to choose the images to match what I'm writing about and I'm also doing less processing.  Unfortunately I still sometimes get more interested in the detail of what I'm seeing and forget to include key elements like the complete finish line gates in the above.