Kimberley House Nelson

... overload apparently according to the girl who briefed us. Anyways, we were booked in for 2pm and as soon as we went in we were assigned an instructor each and started to put our gear on. Soon we were getting on a very flimsy looking little white plane and taking off way above all the trees, volcanic parks and mountains - at one point we thought we were about there but were reassured that we were only about half way! We flew round for a while above the beautiful views, and ...

... I got settled into "The Bug" hostel, I took a look around and found some bikes that were free to use. So I hopped on one and went for a spin. I was done after 15 minutes. Hahaha, It's one thing getting used to driving on the other side of the road, and getting used to all these crazy drivers, but when I am put on a bike and have to go with the flow of traffic thougha round-about! No way ...

... an amazing vista of bright blue water and a paradise-like calmness to the surroundings. A less calming experience was of course for Martijn when we came to a nice big swingbridge that we had to cross. It LOOKED reasonably stable, but it still took a bit of nerve to cross as it definitely earned its description of SWINGbridge ;). We had the option of being picked up in two different places and (strangely enough) chose for the further away one, which ...

... Montana's show and the cartoon series based on the "The Emperor's New Groove" (L wisely commented to G that this expertise will come in handy one day but he quietly disagreed. Time will tell ;-) We didn't get to spend too much time with the little "brats" though. We spent a full day on the water in the Park kayaking in the morning and returning with a cool catamaran sail boat in the afternoon. The park is undeniably beautiful with its ...

... more sheltered. As the boat nearly broke in half, and I remembered that process of getting the spray deck off whilst capsized, as well as my plan to enjoy the beaches rather than kill myself kayaking my heart out, we all made the right decision to abandon this part of the journey. So, back we turned and did the who crazy 5km again down the coast to our starting point in Tonga bay. Our first morning was spent exploring Tonga Island, a nature reserve which is home ...

... are on flat-ground and then there are hills and hills with people's homes (all overlooking the sea). We checked into our hostel and got a membership which gave us a 10-night discount. It is only costing us $22 a night, and this hostel has a way different feel than the one in Wellington! We have 3 beds in our room so some nights we have a guest staying with us...but it's really neat. Our first roomie was from England, the second was from Brazil ...

... can be blown back when you get tired). This was going fine until we rounded the point into Kenepuru Sound, stopped paddling and noticed we were still moving well. It became apparent that the wind had switched 180 degrees, so it was about turn and 'stroke! stroke! stroke!' to get back. I won't comment on the abuse from the rear seat and I'm sure Andy has nothing to say about the odd splash - I was certainly getting soaked with the waves ...

... heerlijk zonnetje en besloot ik maar eens een soort-van hike te gaan doen: de heuvel op naar de Center of New Zealand. En jawel, tuurlijk ging ik de verkeerde kant op. Ik liep dus een andere track, maar kwam toch op de
juiste plek terecht. Toen ik later weer naar beneden liep, kwam ik erachter dat mijn weg toch een stuk minder steil was dan de echte weg naar de Center! Hihi, zie je wel dat dit soort foutjes soms zijn voordelen heeft!

Kerst was gezellig, 's middags om 12.00 ...