Four Seasons Motor Lodge Nelson

... says who can blame her! Yeah right!!

We spent the first day around Farewell Spit which is effectively a gigantic sandbar which is constantly shifting. The weather was fairly blustery, providing great conditions for a brisk walk along Waririki Beach. The by-now obligatory golden sands and roaring seas were once again present though some of the rock formations and sea-arches off-shore were some of the stranger ones we have seen - they looked like camera tripods from certain ...

... walked the remainder of the route. Plenty of seals, stunning views, white sandy beaches... So glad I'm in NZ! We travelled back down the West of the island, stopping at Nelson Lakes and Pancake Rocks (sea bursting through blow holes in the rocks). More quad biking in Greymouth - this time through copious amounts of mud! Great fun, although got my bike totally stuck at one point! We also zip wired over the Buller Gorge which was bloody scary! We ...

Wed Feb25 The ferry to south island sails across the Cook Straits, into Marlborough Sound - past densely wooded islands and mussel farms in the bays - and into Picton. We're on to Nelson - the sunshine capital of the island and definitely a holiday location for locals and foreigners alike and we have great trouble getting a bed for the night. But with a bit of luck we manage to get the last room at a backpacker - $60 each (the most ...

... pénétrer dans une chambre d'enfant avec plein d'étoiles fluorescentes (vous savez, les trucs qu'on colle sur le plafond et sur les murs...) Et plus important, cette expérience m'a permis de donner du sens à une citation très philosophique de Timon et Pumba dans le Roi Lion (lol). En effet, dans le dessin animé, Timon, Pumba et Simba sont allongés dans l'herbe et contemplent le ciel étoilé. Ils s ...

... luck on our trip. Chris told us about one day where they were kayaking and they got to watch orcas and dolphins working together to round up the stingrays and trap them on the shore. He said the stingrays were jumping out of the water onto the beach to avoid the predators! The kayak trip seemed to end way too soon, though it was 4 in the afternoon when we pulled up onto our beach. Shortly afterwards, we were picked up by our accomodation ...

... armed with swimming kit and the frisbee. The water was not unpleasant, but it was far from warm. Perhaps we were in the wrong area, or there at the wrong time of day/month/year. We still had fun and it was nice to mess around on the beach for a while. We arrived in Nelson that evening and headed straight for the camp site. The next day we had a look around Picton with its art-deco cathedral, Shops and South Street; the oldest surviving residential street in New ...

... were the only passengers- until the driver informed us we had pick-ups!). Pick-ups mean driving the boat into the beach where the pick-ups were wading out to the boat (4 Germans were at least 20 min. late so we sat rocking in wavy, windy water), more pickups, rounded ben into MAJOR wind and waves (waves taller than the boat) for another 15 minutes seeming to go inches at time. We then landed at our beach where we were supposed to wade into shore ...

... in fact it was over much quicker than we thought which was a shame. Happily the road was clear so the bus made it through to take us back to Nelson. It was a very windy road though, not really designed for buses! So, we said goodbye to the group, the oldies of whom are expecting to see us on a mountaineering group meet some time in the new year, and headed back to the YHA to: * get clean, * have noodles, * let daddy and nana e know that we were back and * SLEEP!

... neither of those things in Porto Heli!) However, can't spend all day sitting round, and there were two definite highlights - mussel collecting and kayaking. The green lipped mussel is unique to NZ, and we were treated to an educational trip in the hostel water taxi to collect 20kg of them for a big feed up. The farm appears to be a row of floats, but beneath are ropes where baby mussels are seeded on to fluffy rope and held in place by an ...

... Maar eenmaal door de kou heen was het gaaf! En juist vanwege de hoge golven, helemaal met de Bodyboards die de anderen met zich mee hadden gebracht!

2e kerstdag, of Boxing Day, zoals ze dat hier noemen, is hier niets bijzonders. Alles gaat haast weer als normaal, supermarkten zijn zelfs alweer open. En dus ook de hikes.
Oke, daar gaat ie dan. Na mijn kleine oefening met the Center of NZ, hier dan een echte hike door de Abel Tasman!!
's Ochtends moest ik om 5.30 mijn ...