Monaco Nelson

... by hills, massive trees and the river. The next morning we went White Water Rafting which was SUPER cold, but very fun! We were on the river for about 3 hours. This river is grade 5 meaning it's the highest level of rafting which can be operated commercially. No one fell out, so it was all good. From River Valley we headed to Wellington, which is the capital city as well as the windest city, which proved to be true ...

... of our car as the sky continued to crash down on us, sitting there we got a text from Stevie’s friend inviting us down to Hastings for chilli - at that point in time a warm bed and a bowl of chilli sounded like an invite from God so we braved the weather and the treacherous mountain road and went down to sit in Dermot and Vanessa’s house for a few days to brave out the weather. Our days down there were really lovely - we sat in front of the fire, drank wine and ...

... sortir du port de Wellington et j'en profite pour passer un coup de fil a Papa et maman. Ca fait vraiment plaisir d'avoir de leur nouvelles. Ca me manque de ne pas entendre les voix de ma famille et mes amis. Je pense souvent a tout le monde, me demandant ce qu'ils font, ce qu'ils vivent, s'ils sont heureux ou pas. La distance et l'aventure n'enleve pas le besoin d'etre proche de sa famille et de ses amis. J'espere qu'ils le savent, je me dis que je ne l'ai peut-etre pas ...

Abel Tasman National Park is named for the Dutch explorer who first discovered New Zealand. this national park in a word is "stunning" (and eunice's favorite of the trip so far). it is located on the northwest corner of NZ's south island. it encompasses a large mountian region plus a marine reserve filled with seals, stingrays and a variety of fish. it is also home to one of NZ's Great Walks (this also includes the likes of the Milford Track, Kepler Track ...

... from the way he talks that he holds the place very dear to him. One thing I've noticed is that everyone has an opinion about their natural environment here in New Zealand. I guess this is probably slightly skewed because of the circles I've been moving in but there seems to be genuine knowledge and debate about issues of the environment in New Zealand. I can't imagine there being debates at a general level over which type of poison is best to be used to reduce the ...

... tours/trips. The campsite is beautiful, it's like a different world, such a special and unique place for its beauty. We booked a kayak trip for tomorrow then went for a walk along the first part of the Abel Tasman track to Stu's Lookout. It was getting late and so there wasn't much time to do anything so we headed back to camp just before sunset.