Lewis Pass Motels Nelson

... known across New Zealand as being the sunshine capital and at 22˚C, it lived up to its reputation. I also noted that Nelson has an abundance of good-looking women. Maybe it’s the sunshine!

Back in the car, passing through Stoke, I arrived at my motel in Richmond – my home for the next two evenings whilst I explore the Abel Tasman National Park and coastline.

The next morning, after a lie-in (it ...

... and turned out OK but needed to see in the flesh to make sure.
The owners picked me up from the airport at around 2PM after I flew into town at 1 and I cheked out car, all good, signed and paid for, he drives away with his mate, I drive off with a new car for the South Island...NICE!
Head into town to check it out and get ownership changed over, like to do ...

... visible from our windscreen, definitely the way to watch that film! We didn’t do much else that day, the skydive took it out of us both mentally and physically! The next morning we took off down to Tongariro National Park, to see Mordor upclose. We took a walk and a drive around the park, although we couldn’t do the famed ’Tongariro Crossing’ as the weather was too bad - but the park was really amazing - so much snow! New Zealand is just ‘wow ...

... aioli (and hamburger of course). Jessica's was about the same less egg, bacon and beet root. Jess exclaimed hers was the best burger she had ever eaten. I had to somewhat dissect mine to get it into my mouth but I had to agree that it was pretty phenomenal. Needless to say, we skipped dinner! We did in fact manage to get some NZ cash at a "more proper" ATM machine once arriving in Kaikoura... so its all good!

... had done a tramp that spent half the time on the beach. And these are the best beaches on NZ. Golden sands hewn from the soft granite rocks that are only 200 million years young. Low tide meant we could cross Awaroa Bay. This still meant wading through the water with our packs. The expanse of the estuary with the tide out is quite something, desert like. The people stretching out in front are ...

... any views and only occasionally allowed us tantalising brief glimpses of the beaches, inlets, creeks and the sea. At the end of our walk we had time to laze on the beach before wading out to catch the Sea shuttle back to Kaiteriteri, as it tried to avoid becoming marooned on the sand by the fast receding tide. Next day we drove through the Northern mountains and fiords of the south Island back to Picton to return to North island.

... We didn't want to drive in the evening so walked down to the front to try another of the restaurants. In the event, having walked to the furthest restaurant and decided we didn't fancy it (more cafeteria like than we wanted), we headed back to The Waterfront only to find that they were fully booked. Giving in, we walked back to the apartment, drove to the Supermarket and ate in.

We are back in Nelson, but staying at a new hostel, which is more personal than the YHA. Adi and I have a twin room, but it is a double with a single bed! I bagsy the double bed, and dump my stuff!!! We book a massage straight away and then take ...

... a bit before turning back up to the van. A drive into Marahau revealed even les sites for camping (it was banned completely there), so we returned to the road to the rock and parked up on an empty lot which seemed to be something to do with recycling collections, but which we had to oursleves for the night. We cookoed dinner and settled in, hoping that the perfect starry sky would hold for some fine weather for our walk in the national park the next day.

... with creaky floorboards, a guest living room with a piano in it and shelves full of the Canterbury Tales, History of England and Shakespeare plays. The owners were both teachers and of English origin. They had lived for quite a while in France so they spoke fluent French and had a stack of French CD's for guests to enjoy. Lovely people. Although David will challenge this in the next couple of paragraphs!! (David: Will I?) After we had checked in, we went for a walk in the ...