Picton--where everyone is smiling

Picton--everyone is smiling

I spent much of the day trying to figure out what makes everyone we encountered in this town so friendly and happy (at least to all outward appearances).  We arrived in this very small town of 4000 inhabitants on a cruise ship of 1800 passengers and 800 crew, nearly doubling the town size.  We learned that these numbers were deceiving because Picton is a crossroads in New Zealand, a convergence of cruise ships, back packers, walkers, land baed vacationers of all ilks and persuasions.  The town greets them all.

We arrived in the early morning.  Waiting for us on the pier were towns folks bearing baskets of flower bouguets.  One bouquet for each passenger which they pinned to our clothing.  Our cynical selves were thinking initially that the bouquets marked the tourists, but no one we encountered the rest of the day didn’t bear that out.  We found all of the inhabitants friendly, generous, quick with a smile and a chortle, great sense of humor.  Nothing that happened during the day made us think any differently.

I visited the outdoor craft market which is set up for the tourists’ arrival by cruise ship.  Lots of loving hands at home, cottage industry home made items, many of which I also love to make.  Quilts, knitting, scarves, felting, wood work, and more.  The wind was high but no one complained.  One lady was holding onto the canopy over her wares and laughing.  She explained that she was trying to be Mary Poppins, smiling all the time  What a delightful attitude.  The town centre has plenty of shops, book stores, new and used, as well as second time around shops.  We lunched at a lovely cafe overlooking the port.  Stu enjoyed a seafood chowder while I lunched on a wonderful local lamb salad. The lamb was a bit strong, which i enjoyed so much.

The afternoon took us to local wineries, through the country side.  The land looked much like the Paso Robles area.  We weren’t very thrilled with any of the wines we tasted, although that is not indicative of New Zealand wines in general.  This is more indicative of the wineries that were chosen.                   

The next day was Wellington, the capital.  It was another city so Stu and I opted to give ourselves a day off.only  taking time to walk into town for wifi.  It was quite cold and windy, a good day to stay ship side.