Kingsgate Beachcomber Nelson

... for 10 minutes non-stop out of excitement (time to get my padi sorted and also stop this very american behaviour).

After all this we started on our multi-day drive south to Wellington, stopping underway at farmers markets to pick up some local produce (the best lamb fillets ever, weird fruits, and of course some wayyu beef - which should be a staple in everyones fridge I guess..). One of the nicest things about buying ...

... suddenly the door opened! Fear and panic flooded through me but as we were doing a tandem skydive - there wasn’t much of a chance to escape - before I knew it I was sitting with my legs dangling out of a plane at 12000 feet and then I was freefalling at 12000 feet - literally breath taking! I remember bits and pieces of the fall, I remember us being upside down and the instructor showing me the plane that we had just jumped out of, and I remember us spinning round and ...

... t planned to do much in Nelson. It would be a break from all the running about we'd been doing, cramming in activities in all the other locations to date. We did head out and walk about the place and it does strike you as a quaint town, very artsy and relaxed with numerous café's and refined bars and restaurants. There is a nice relaxed vibe to the place and that is founded upon the culture and heritage ...

... Apple Rock. I want a picture of me in it!! and so i dive off the boat, swim to it and climb it... I'm a tourist and not ashamed to act like one!! :o)) doesn't do much good to my cold but hey what would you do for a picture in the Split Apple rock!!... And it is already time to leave... I could have stayed longer there. It would have been great to walk more of the coast track. It is stunning! The next day we are off to a small village down the west coast called Barrytown....

... cases some Kiwi vessels have hunted foreign whaling boats and ended up ramming them until they got the message! I'm now in Nelson and have been for a few days, we have booked ourselves on the bus tomorrow morning to head down the west coast (taking about 6 days) hopefully we'll get up in time for this one! We've met a wicked group of people on the bus, so the next leg of the trip should be really cool :D

... filleted and vacuum sealed! it was delicious!!! we hadn't had sushi in SO LONG! while we were waiting for our fish to be prepared, the two families that we met at camp showed up... so we spend the next hour with them, helping the kids, taking pictures etc... it was great fun... so much fun that we ended up exchanging information and promised to visit each other in our native countries... Abel Tasman was great! YOU MUCH GO TO ABEL TASMAN if you are ever in New Zealand!

It was chilly and a bit dark when we got up so mummy decided against her shorts ... We had breakfast, phoned daddy and set off into the National Park for 3 days of rainforest and pretty beaches. Two of the people in our group (Kylie and Andrew) were Kayaking for one and a half days. That was 12km on the first day. I was pleased mummy hadn't chosen that option, she'd never have managed it - I would have had to do all the paddling (I think Andrew was doing most of ...

... at Abel Tasman but it was dark so we couldn't explore. That night we had a group BBQ where everyone helped prepare. One person took control but when asked how she wanted things preparing she was very vague. Claire had chopped up some carrots to be told "I don't normally chop them that way but I suppose they will do" - cheeky cow! We are not sure on our group, they are very cliquish in a way ...