Preparing to Leave the South Island
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2007
1
94
106
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Motueka,
South Island,
New Zealand
Thursday, August 21, 2008
so wanaka - well after my super-noisy night in base backpackers it was bad news on the weather front as the hasst pass (the way i needed to go to get to the west coast) remained closed for another couple of days. needless to say i wasnt going to subject myself to any more nights in base so i moved up the road to the fantastic matterhorn south lodge. its a backpackers lodge and also a separate building with more upmarket rooms with ensuites. if you are ever in wanaka i recommend you stay there as you wont receive a warmer welcome anywhere else in the world as i did from jeanette. the 2 of us got on really well from the minute i arrived and settled into my cosy double room. the first night she kindly invited me over to her apartment in the hostel and we settled in with a couple of bottles of wine, some cheese and crackers and some girly DVDs. it was some much-needed time-out and it was great to be in a house with some girl company and be able to relax and chat. no surprise the next day the pass was closed again. but in return for a couple of hours helping out with the cleaning around the lodge, i was afforded another night in my room which in my books was a pretty good offer. after the couple of hours cleaning (where i repeatedly questioned why id drank so much the night before!!) we rewarded ourselves with a slap-up brunch down the town. the best bread in new zealand. that night we got another DVD but were both knackered from the late night before (god im getting old!) so hit the hay around 11pm.
finally on monday the Gates of Hasst were opened to non-chained tyres and so i made for the hills. it was a long drive over to franz josef but i picked up an irish hitch-hiker (girl) so had someone to chat to for some of the journey. got into franz around 3 and was going to stay 2 nights? but then i realised it was possible to walk yourself all the way right up to the bottom of the glacier (within a few metres anyway) so i did that in the afternoon and decided to move on the next day and catch up some of my lost time. also had the luxury there of a dorm all to my self (YAY!) which works out alot cheaper than paying for a single room (almost 3 times the cost). ive been lucky that its off-season here as its happened a few times now.
tuesday then i headed on up the coast and through some of the most spectacular coastal scenery ive seen in a long while (NZ just continues to amaze me and blow me away). i stayed the night te miko in a place called te nikau (!) retreat and had my own very little corrugated iron hut in the middle of the rainforest. it was pretty much just a double bed and a heater and smelt strangely of livestock (im sure it housed them at one time or another) but it was great. spent the afternoon investigating the pancake rocks in punakaiki down the road. i was (yet again) super lucky with the weather so there were spectacular views of the rocks with the big snowy mountains as far away as the eye could see in the distance. in the evening i went down the trueman track to the beach and got some cool sunset pics on the new SLR (im loving it more every day!!!).
yesterday i hit the road again and this was a long one as it was pretty windy and twisty and theres still heaps of snow and ice and grit around on higher ground. i went on up the west coast and then cut across inland and up to motueka which is on the northern coast line, just below abel tasman national park. got to the hostel around 2 and couldnt check in so went for the best carrot cake ive ever eaten in my life in hot mamas up the road - if you are ever here GO THERE AND EAT IT. im going for more after i do this blog!! last night had the pleasure of my own dorm again which was awesome. also met some of the hostel residents from vanuatu (rhona you will know vanuatu of survivor vanuatu (bobby jon) fame!!!). theyve been here picking fruit and pruning trees since feb (imagine living in a hostel for that long? *shudder* - and its not that great a hostel either. if you want to watch a movie you have to ask in reception, they put it on down there and you run back upstairs to watch it = you cant pause of rewind or anything. rubbish!) ANYWAY they were all very nice and friendly though i did curse them this morning cos they woke me up at half 6 in the morning playing by the rivers of babylon by boney m at full volume!!!
so this morning after i was roused so early i set off for a day's adventure in to abel tasman. i got picked up at the hostel and we went to kaiteriteri where we caught the water taxi that went all the way up the abel tasman NP coastline. we saw a massive seal colony which was very cool. also the local dolphin george who swam RIGHT up next to the boat whilst we were moored and then swam along beside the boat for ages. ive not seen a dolphin up that close before so it was awesome. after about 2 hours then they dropped us off at tonga bay where it was a leaisurely 2.5 hour trek south to bark bay where they picked us up. its meant to be the nicest part of the whole coastal track there and it was a great walk. they picked us up again at 3 and took us home and now here i am in the interweb place telling you about it.
tomorrow i leave for picton where i catch the ferry over to wellington and head a little bit up the coast before stopping for the night and heading on to taupo the next day. hopefully itll be a nice day for the crossing as theres meant to be lots to see and im looking forward to bringing a car onto a car ferry for the first time....
thats about it for now - before i sign off, big congrats to john & mel on the birth of little baby oisin....
missing you all lots
nic xx
