Pujjis Boutique Accommodation Wellness Retreat Nelson

... and at a lower cost than our plans to visit Melbourne or the south Island...makes me feel like this trip was meant to be...so I believe a costume is also meant to be .....cool. It is fun getting inspiration when you were not expecting to find any. My mind is going to go crazy..I know it:) All good!

I think I have to stick to writing notes each day and taking lots of photos/video footage.
I am not allowed knitting needles, or even a ...

... our time to double check if the Marlborough wine region is all its cracked up to be. Of course we snubbed the (in the UK) popular Cloudy Bay vineyard as these wines are on sale in UK supermarkets. Instead we visited their neighbour Herzog, which is a small boutique vineyard run by a perfectionist Swiss guy and only sells its wines to upmarket restaurants around the world. Their restaurant is apparently very well known ...

... and truly in New Zealand! On our first night we went to a place called ‘Waipu’ (pronounced whypooh - hilarious), where we parked up at a ‘Department of Conservation’ campsite - situated at a beautiful location by the beach. We went for a walk along the beach just as the sun was setting, creating a beautiful pink and purple sky, we then returned to camp on our little stove that came with the van before going to bed in the back and watching a dvd - the ...

... pickups though and when you've had a 10hr bus journey (again it would have been about 7 hrs only for all the stops and that) it'd be nice! Still it's a reasonably straight walk and took 10 mins lugging Fran's bags and my backpack. Only thing I would say is that everyone seems to hit bed early, not necessarily a bad thing but not very comfortable when you're rooting through bags in the dark! To be honest we ...

... and orchards. Superb for a little spot of jam and berry buying from unmanned side-of the road stalls! We cruised through the hippy Motueka and had a jyous lunch in the sun NOT molested by sand-flies.. FREEEEEEEEDOM! LAter that day we even had a victory beer sat outside the van in the sun, just inside Abel Tasman NAtional Park. (We had tried to sit on the beach but there were the crazy cricket sized hopping beach sand bugs. Probably emissaries of ...

... a ferry booked to the north island early the next day so that left just us with Ann and Dan. John our guide and Dale and John who managed the lodge. Another great dinner, good conversation and huge satisfaction at the end of the day. The last day was more walking but with boat rides between bays for lunch and back to the start point. We also walked around what was a Maori village but was difficult to see because time (and wild pigs) had eroded the land. I could go ...

... of the scale there was the occasional home with stricking out architecture. The deeper we got the windier and wetter it was. At Havelock we headed in a windy Westerly direction until we broke through the mountains to sea and sunshine at Nelson around midday. We pulled up and managed to instantly find a cafe specializing in gluten free food, meeting Dads dietery requirements. After the delishish meal we found an optician to fix Dads glasses. He ...

... Von dort brachte uns ein Boot die Kueste entlang bis zum Ausstiegspunkt, von dem man nach Marahau, von wo wir wieder abgeholt wurden, zurueckliefen. Ich wurde dann halt wie gsagt 9 Km weiter oben rausgeworfen, von wo ich dann alleine mit dem IPod im anschlag loslief. Also wer mal nach Neuseeland kommt sollte unbedingt einen Zwischenstopp im Abel Tasman einlegen. Hier wandert man auf einem Kuesten Track entlang, an vertraumten Buchten vorbei ...

... the weather here (only a few mile away) was clear and sunny and so we were treated to some excellent (if windy) views of Queen Charlotte Sound as we approached the port. Once ashore, we avoided the main road towards Blenheim and turned up along the coast on Queen Charlotte Drive - a spectacular but torturous back-road which wound its way west to Havelock, giving great views of the incredibly blue water and green peninsulars. Having stopped at a ...

... on a mammoth bus journey straight from here to Franz Josef with no stops.. so 10 hours on the bus (with no ipod as it's dead.) But I look forward to tackling the glaciers next! Yes, before you ask, I am knackered from all the travelling.. and early mornings. I've had alot of 6am starts, which is partly why I'm not updating this so much right now as I'm plain and simple exhausted. I only hope that my shoulders don't ache so much tomorrow that I can't lift my backpack!