Amber Court Motor Lodge Nelson

... pull the retractable rudder up as it had become so shallow. For some reason, which is hard to explain, this had to be the most peaceful and one of the most magical experiences of the last 6 months worth of travel. We even managed to capture Betty doing her "Al Jolson" impression.<br><br>All in, we eventually covered about 18km before arriving at a pre-arranged pick up point to be collected by a water taxi. A fantatsic day - the park lived up to its well deserved reputation. <br><br><br><br>

... surrounding hills known as the center of NZ. This is because the spot marks where there is just as far to the southern tip of NZ as to the northern tip. We are in the very middle of NZ and the weather is fantastic, high sun and 18c, so the view from the hill was lovely. Nelson is also the second town in NZ to be acknowledged a settlement back in 1842. Russel in Bay of Islands being the very first. This means that the city has loads of very ...

... we were fully perplexed we reached the top and the pay off of seeing the most incredible view of the phenomenal blue of the Tasman Sea and the mountains across the bay. Soon we stopped for "lunch number one" given all they had provided in our brown bag would take a number of stops to consume. With a bit of rest we continued on our way. On two occasions we were forced to "take the long way" due to high ...

... in Abel Tasman National Park on the Northwest corner of South Island. Luckily for us, it was sunny all around. The theme for the days was blue - and all possible shades associated with it color the waters. This is the most visited National Park in NZ, and it's well known for the tidal variations. Water levels rise and fall by as much as 5 meters between high tide and low tide. As a result, you will see a completely different view at the same ...

... who greeted us were horrendous. We dare not make eye contact with them and so after checking in we hid all our belongings and scarpered into town. The town centre itself was gorgeous and was reminiscent of a European city, dominated by an English built Cathedral. Shopping was high on the agenda as Nelson is a real shopping haven and its claim to fame is that Peter Jackson had the 'one' ring made here at a place called Jens Hansen and the ring is ...

... start. 06 December Went to Kaiteriteri and ended up on a day trip to the Abel Tasman National Park. A little boat took us up to Totaranui, and then dropped us off at Bark Bay where we walked through the bush to Torrent Bay. Beautiful views of the coastline once we had laboured up the hills, and the bush is very pretty. We did the two and a quarter hour walk in one and a half, and managed to catch the earlier ferry back to Kaiteriteri. Quiet evening recovering.

... way was German. Apparently, NZ is a big destination for German tourists. Having been to a few places, I can safely say that American tourists don't always have the best reputation with the classic "ugly American" sterotype floating around the world. I've seen this "ugly American" behavior at times and it is embarassing. Well I'm happy to say that ...

Kia Ora, Ebbe war leider erst um 14 Uhr (Flut war um 8 Uhr), also musste ich eine Weile warten bevor ich weiterwandern konnte. Nun, es gab einiges an Morgentau, mein Zelt war recht feucht, konnte daher wenigstens trocknen:-) Um 12:00 konnte man dann endlich durch das Wasser waten (offiziell soll man es fruehstens 90min vorher probieren), aber das ...

... comfortable, ate lots of homemade bread and did a slightly OTT walk to Mistletoe Bay and back which turned out to be 26km return. The Queen Charlotte Track is not hilly (just as well) but we did find ourselves fairly unable to move for a couple of days after this!<br><br>We went to Picton for the day to stock up and also to have a look round, including a visit to the 'Edwin Fox'. This is now just a hull but she is the last remaining ...

... uur de bus (1 boek is nog nat) en zal dan het Zuidereiland achter me laten. De auto heb ik vanochtend ingeleverd, mijn spierpijn van het surfen is nu bijna voorbij. De zon heeft mijn haren gebleekt en zoals de kapster die hier min of meer in het hostel woont zei: "Het is lang geworden!". Ik ben bruin, niet zo rampzalig als jullie misschien wel denken en om ook meteen die andere vraag te beantwoorden: nee, ik ben niet afgevallen. Ik weet ook niet of dat mogelijk is als je ...