Alpine Lodge Nelson

... became pretty choppy in places which certainly adds to the fun. At one point we headed into a a place called Torrent Bay which has to be one of the highlights of the whole trip in New Zealand. The Bay only becomes flooded at high tide and even then it only has around a foot or so of water covering the huge sand bays. It was unbelievably peaceful as the tide allowed us to drift right in, rarely having to put our paddles in the water. OK we beached a couple of times and eventually had ...

... they were actually Sea Lions based on looking at their rear fins (able to use rear fins to walk, Seals are not able to do so). After about 30 minutes we arrived at the Tonga Quarry drop off site with our pack, water and a couple of extra nice lunches. We set out for a 5-6 hour hike to reach Torrant Bay where we would stay for the night. The first feature we met was a never ending up hill climb. About the ...

... of NZ seems a world apart. The number of people drops down drastically, roads become narrower and the towns are smaller and much more sparse. Instead nature takes it's rightful place at the top. Everywhere you go, you are in awe of it. If the day is fine, you are treated to one jaw dropping scenery after another. If the day is rainy, everything is in the clouds. We spent the last couple of days kayaking/camping/hiking/tramping/water taxi ...

... weather I can see their merit, but in general I would say camping is a much better option than the sleeping hut. Downsides to sleeping huts are zero privacy, trying to sleep in the same room with 13 other people and their various bodily noises and the late night versus early morning crowd. As luck would have it, almost everyone I encountered along ...

... nach NZ zurueckkehren musste:-) War damals eine sehr gute Beschreibung im LP, inzwischen liest sich das etwas anders im LP, da der Track sich doch fast zu ueberlaufen anhoert, aber das ist zum Glueck nicht der Fall. Wer meine Fotos sieht und noch keinen Flug nach Neuseeland gebucht hat, ist selber schuld:-) Gruss Ralf P.S. Kiwi Fun Fact Birds have small concealed ears, Kiwi have long ear openings like most mammals.

The sun is out, the washing is rapidly cooking on the line, the hostel dog is asleep on his bean bag and the car has a new CV joint for the estimated $200 so all is right with the world.<br><br>We've spent 10 days in the Marlborough Sounds, the convoluted waterways at the top of the South Island. In between being thankful not to be on the Outward Bound course at Anikiwa (which seems to require regular jumping into the freezing water) we made ...

... rugzak lekte! Das niet goed, g**ver, mijn camera! Die was nog droog, maar verder had mijn halve liter waterfles doodleuk alles natgedruppeld. Terug in de auto bleek ook mijn bijrijdersstoel al volledig doorweekt te zijn... Nee he!<br>Terug in het hostel alles uitgestald in de ondergaande zon... Morgen zou ik met de bus en de veerboot, ik kan het niet hebben dat de helft van mijn spullen dan nat is!<br>Maar gelukkig droogde alles weer vrij snel. <br><br>Het is nu vrijdag en ik pak over ...