Best Western Chelsea Park Mtr Nelson

... hard work all this travelling!!), I drove up to a town called Motueka to sort out a cruise and hike in the Abel Tasman National Park, famed for its golden beaches. I had been recommended a tour operator called Wilsons, so I popped into their office to be served by Emma from High Wycombe. I can understand why so many Brits do decide to uproot and live over here. I was recommended 'Trip 3’ which consisted of a cruise ...

... stopped shopping in the op shops, they are wonderful and everywhere we go, our car is slowly becoming an op shop itself! We also took those few days to research which camper/car we were going to hire and which route we were going to take. Eventually we settled for a ‘Spaceship’ as it was the cheapest ($25 per day!), this kind of ’camper car’ is a large Toyota people carrier converted to have a double bed in the back, a gas stove, a dvd player and ...

... inside. We've learned our lesson though and will immediate stake out our place as soon as we board for the return journey. Thankfully, the skies cleared and the sun shone down upon our approach to the south island town of Picton. We disembarked and headed towards Nelson. I voted for the short route but it was listed on the map as "narrow and windy" which particularly gave us pause given what we had driven on the "normal" roads. I was ...

... island. The views of the Marlborough Sounds with its pristine blue waters helped us recover. After docking in Picton we hit the road, headed for the Abel Tasman National Park. We stopped a few times along the way, most notably at Pelorus Bridge, where we spent 30 minutes enjoying the sun and taking a few pictures. After arriving in Marahau, our base for the next three nights, we wanted to just enjoy a nice outdoor dinner at the local restaurant... The meal was very nice (and HUGE ...

... we stopped to admire the seals lounging in the sun and saw a blue penguin swim on by. We started at Tonga bay and walked all the way down the track for 5 hours to Anchorage bay where we caught the water taxi back. The walk afforded us some stunning views of the sea, beaches and inland of the national park. We were really glad that we had chosen the Abel Tasman park to trek in.

... but oh no, I just got a rant - were these going to work, how did they work, she had a medical problem and told me quite strongly that she had been in hospital for 2 weeks. ???? Paul and I were not sure what this had to do with us, but said that was all we had. She yelled at her boyfriend some more and pocketed the tablets. And then of course, Paul got to sleep with the boyfriend. He he. Actually, the 6 hour walk was really nice. The weather was perfect. We also had to do a tidal ...

... gemacht. Leider war gestern einer der windigsten Tage. Damit hatte unser Guide beim Kayak fahren wohl auch nicht gerechnet, also sind wir erstmal viel zu weit rausgeweht worden. Als die Wellen dann wirklich immer hoeher wurden und das ganze Lenken und Rudern in Richtung Ufer irgendwie nichts gebracht hat, haben wir dann doch langsam angefangen uns ein wenig Sorgen zu machen. Der Guide hat das andere Kayak schon ans Seil geschnallt und aus ...

... and get a steak at the Lone Star and return to our room to get settled in for the night. There is one new twist to the one lane bridges in this country. We crossed over two more one lane bridges that also have a railroad track down the middle. Word is that the trains have the right of way. Weird. We are of the opinion that the absence of a "tipping" custom here for servers has one unintended result: the servers don't work very hard at what they do.

... and we could fel the wind buffeting the plane. They actually held off departure for 20 minutes because of the wind. Apart from a bumpy start it was a pretty good flight. Singapore Airlines as usual, gave good and frequent service. They even brought us a couple of glasses of Champange from the front with a small cake to help us celebrate our 45 wedding anniversary. The wind in Christchurch, must have kept blowing as we ...

... met Anouk, want dat kan in die bussen niet!). Oh, hij doet het niet. Wat? Dat hoort erbij? Bij een Backpackerauto letten jullie daar niet zo op. Maar de radio doet het ook niet. Das dan jammer. O. (Dammit!)<br>(Bovenstaand bleek achteraf allemaal wel mee te vallen, de auto is wel oud, maar de moter is nog goed en trekt ons nog knap door de bergen heen. De radio heeft af en toe gewoon wat spatjes, maar meest van tijd doet ie het gewoon.)<br><br>Dus: daar gingen we dan!<br>On the road again!