Strathaven Lodge Nelson

... of days 2 and 3 as I got to walk a lot more almost by myself.

What I listened to: About three songs on the N86 before I fell into a very deep sleep. Last thing I remember was a track from 'Just Backward of Square’ by Lowgold. It is a wonderfully down-tempo miserablist’s album with tracks like Mercury and Beauty Dies Young to keep you from smiling too much. One of their follow up albums was called ‘Keep Music Miserable’. Nice one fellas.

... was built in Holland in 1995 for Caledonian Macbrayne and sailed the Western Isles for a number of years before becoming the 'Pride of Cherbourg' in the Channel. I wonder how long she's been the 'Kaitaki' crossing the Cook Strait?

We docked in Picton so gently it was impossible to tell when we were at sea and when we were tied up. After the usual long wait on the car deck, we were allowed to drive off on to South Island. It was only 11.30am, and still tanked up on ...

... the winding roads, through Christmas tree forests and over mountains to Havelock. We stopped for lunch there because Havelock is famous for its mussels, so of course we had to try them. We had lunch in the Mussel Pot, a restaurant that served about 10 different mussel sauces. I had blue cheese and David had the classic white wine and garlic. They were delicious! The mussels were so big we were stuffed.

To wear off lunch we ...

... and a can of cold soup (in my rush into the park, I had forgotten my stove), fell asleep promptly in a small room amidst Germans, Czechs and Israelis.

The second day of my hike would be a little slower paced in order to take in more of the Park's natural scenery and side trails to places like Cleopatra's Pool (a deep water pool along one of the rivers that runs through the park), but just over 22km in length. A few of the highlights ...

... Cappy and Sarah for putting us up and looking after us in the capital. We then headed to CHCH to collect our van. First of all we got one named Mangee (which is like a name for a raggy looking cat), but thankfully the radio was faulty and we swapped it for Lurch - our friend and home for the next 26 days (well kind of). Headed to Nelson and stayed once again at Château du Clarri. Awesome host as usual and put up with ...

... a kiwi architect who used to work in london for fosters before coming back and setting up on his own and then there were a couple probably late 40's from billericay who are spending two years away travelling - even lee can't match that ! they were telling storeries about traveliing through the stans and iran which sounded pretty interesting anyway thats it from me i'm off into town toi catch the magic bus

... from Holland and the United States respectively. We motored out to the charter boat in a dinghy. Our initial route took us part Kaiteriteri, Split Apple Rock and Marahau before heaving to off Adele Island to see the seals frolic in the crystal clear water. To take advantage of the perfect weather, we powered our way up the coast, stopping for a quick history lesson at ...

... in the shop (although they don't like you taking pictures of it in the shop then walking out!) After wandering if we were going to have our room broken into overnight we awoke to another beautiful day in Nelson. We decided to walk to the geographical centre of New Zealand which was situated at the summit of a rather steep hill just out of the centre. Whilst the views at the top were spectacular with valley and sea views, the walk nearly killed us ...

... to Greymouth. The weather helped us make our decision to save a bit of money and do the glacier climbs in South America! Even though it was raining near the glaciers, it ended up being another great day of driving! I'm not sure if Byoung mentioned it or not....but the drives here are FANTASTIC. Even if we drive 6-8 hours, it's not that bad. The scenery here is always amazing!!

... by creme brulee for desert. No wonder I have put on half a stone on this trip. (And we're not even half way through!) The next morning was a sprightly 8am start and a 2 min stroll over to where our sea kayaks were getting set up. After some embaressing safety demonstrations involving myself and Emmet we were all set to head into the park and pray our kayak didn't tip over. Abel Tasman is NZ's smallest national park, only 225 square kilometres ...