With class ended, the world of New Zealand opened its arms for me to start exploring. A classmate wanted to join so we packed up the Trusty Steed and were off! Well we were off a day later than planned, as Travel Buddy kept saying, "did you hear? It's supposed to rain tomorrow." It didn't rain at all that weekend...
Day one: a trip to the caves in Takaka, a quick walk through the Waikoropupu springs and The Grove (beautiful outdoor hike with large tunnels in the rocks overlooking the bay). A quick stop at the Mussel Inn, the best pub I have been to so far, and I tried some New Zealand oyster chowder and oysters. Turns out I do not like oysters. I managed to get two down before almost throwing up, so I stuck to the chowder. Spent the first night in Collingwood with a great sunset and some box wine. When my trip buddy started commenting on how ugly it was, and not golden at all, I laughed it off and poured myself some more wine.
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Me at the end of the cave tour, this also happens to be the spot where the last scene in
Lord of the Rings was filmed! |
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| The Grove |
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| Lookout at The Grove |
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| Cool staircase through The Grove |
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| Collingwood Campground Sunset |
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| Golden Bay, looking quite golden to me |
Day two: the next morning we started early after a few flat whites and made it to the most northern part of the south island. It was sunny and windy but beautiful just the same.
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| View from the Golden Bay cafe |
My travel buddy wanted to stay at a more luxurious accommodation than my little tent, so we decided to drive down the road to where we heard one was. This was a mistake. An hour later on a gravel one lane road, we found the place, with no one there, and I knew we should have called. This was on private land so we couldn't roam freely and had to drive back to the campsite. The radio did not work down this one lane road so I plugged in my phone to the stereo. TB (Travel Buddy) laughed after saying her phone had better bass and pulled out her large bluetooth speaker. We got to listen to some puppet music, from a musical I have never heard of, where I was told she liked it, so I got to listen to it. This lasted 2 and a 1/2 songs before I vetoed the puppet music for the rest of the trip.
We pulled up an hour later to the little check-in hut at the camp ground, where we were checked into a small and extremely windy camp spot. Comments of how the trip was not getting better were ignored as we heading down the trail to the beach. The beach was incredible! Huge stone arches, caves with seals basking in the sun, endless dunes, and sunshine sunshine sunshine!
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| Awwww only 17 days, 20 hrs until my handsome man gets here! |
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| Huge stone arches |
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| Windy beach, lots of caves in this hill |
Our campsite had many large pretty peacocks, which I was told to stay away from as they are quite vicious and will try to peck you. One chased me from the tent to the kitchen/bathroom building haha!
The wild wind chased my dreams and attempted to confiscate my tent for its own all through the night. A midnight bathroom run was filled with stars, but stargazing was cut short to escape the grasps of the wicked wind and curl back up into my sleeping bag. Another early morning to pack up the tent and get out of the wind. I hear it remains windy in these parts all year.
Day three: Abel Tasman! We drove down the 3.5 hrs to Kaiteriteri, where tour boats leave for various parts of Abel Tasman for hiking, kayaking, and beach viewing. Travel buddy and I picked a boat tour that went around an island with seals, dropped us on one beach and picked us up on another beach a few hours hike away. It was sunny and the water was various shades of clear turquoise. (TB commented, "I prefer blue". I was amazed that we could be looking at the same thing, but seeing two totally different things.) We had burgers on the beach while waiting for the boat, then enjoyed a 2 hour sunny boat ride to the first beach. The hike only took an hour, then we had another hour or so to read and enjoy the sandy beaches. The campsites were already booked with many many tourists hiking and kayaking. I took out the bathing suit and went for a quick dip in the clear water, then opened a book for some downtime. (TB: "The sand here is like granulated sugar, the sand in the Philippines is like powdered sugar, much better.") I wondered if I should tell TB to zip the lip and just enjoy the beauty around her, that if you laugh after saying something rude doesn't make it funny, but realized I would most likely ruin the rest of the trip for both parties.
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| Beach waiting for the boat. Swimming! |
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| Water view from the hike |
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| Beach #1 |
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| Little hidden beach from the hike |
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| Looking forward to a kayaking trip with Fantasia when he gets here! |
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| Beaches and sunshine |
Another great boat ride back with a cold local beer, then drove back to Nelson instead of extending our journey. I wanted to get into the woods and visit some more huts, while TB wanted to relax at the large house with a view she was staying at for the next couple days.
Lesson learned: choose your travel buddy wisely. You can't escape them on the journey and will be with them 24 hours a day.
