Marahau/Abel Tasman NP December 3, 2008 It’s an efficient operation they’ve got going here. We pulled into the Marahau Beach Camp near Abel Tasman NP late yesterday afternoon and within ten minutes we had a place to park the van, water taxis scheduled to drop us off and pick us up, and a lunch ordered for the hike today. One of the “must dos” for us on this trip was to hike part of the Abel Tasman Coast Track. It’s another one of those “Great Walks” and we’d read and heard a lot about it before we got here. At nine this morning we climbed into a boat (the water taxi) that was on a trailer being pulled by a tractor. I’m not sure that would be legal anywhere in the U.S. Tractors are needed to ... read more

Kaikoura December 1, 2008 A new month means the high tourist season has begun in NZ and the same caravan spot we had last night in Kaikoura is $6 higher tonight. All of the whale tours and other activities prices have also increased greatly overnight. Our day was excellent. We spent most of it tramping the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway which takes one over sea cliffs with views of craggy shores, clear water, and fur seal colonies and down into red-billed gull nesting areas. It took us four hours because we stopped so much and would have taken longer if we hadn’t hitchhiked the last mile that took us through town back to our van. A kind couple from Manchester, England picked us up saying we didn’t look very dangerous, but did ask if we were the ... read more

Westport and Karamea November 29, 2008 We took another look at the Pancake Rocks and were on our way north up the coastline. While we were there we got our first good look at some Hectors dolphins (smallest species of dolphins) that we have heard so much about. First stop was the small town of Westport that we feel gets a bum rap in our guidebook. We thought it was a delightful place with friendly people and fun shops and at least one pretty good café. We were going to head inland from there but two gas station attendants convinced us that we should continue north to the town of Karamea (the end of the road) and into Kahurangi National Park. They also suggested that on the way we should take a side trip up a ... read more

West Coast November 27, 2008 We had a late start out of Wanaka. It was just so pretty and quiet in our caravan park that we took our sweet time getting showers, having breakfast, washing dishes, and putting the jigsaw puzzle van back to its daytime configuration. We’re a team now, and we might win the “changing the van from nighttime sleeping to daytime use” Olympics. We also decided to take a drive to an overlook of Lake Wananka and I requested that we make a stop at Puzzling World. If you are in Wananka, you don’t need to stop there unless you are into mazes and optical illusions in a big way. We just did the free stuff, and were then on our way to finally getting off the southern section of the map. We ... read more

Queenstown November 25, 2008 The southern cross was brilliant last night. We were both up in the middle of the night to enjoy the clear night sky on our way to the facilities….more quality time together. Today was rainy and miserable so we holed up in Queenstown for several hours. We cleaned the campervan and took long hot showers. We didn’t want to drive on because the road ahead is supposed to be beautiful and we don’t want to see it (I should say not see it) in the rain. The weather isn’t stopping a lot of adventurers. I spoke with two girls that went bungy jumping today. The people from New York that were working for National Geographic that we met in the Catlins at Owaka are here at the same caravan park. The husband ... read more