Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 35

HAd another brilliant day today. Started with a bit of a farce. I was meant to get picked up at 6.15 to go up to Abel Tasmin for a days sea kayeking. SOmehow I slept through my alarm (I blame all the anti-histamines), and missed the bus. But fortunately I managed to catch a lift with some Brazilians, who were going the same way. I called the company, and agreed to meet their bus half way. But... first of all we got lost leaving Nelson, then we got pulled over by the police for speeding.... Eventually got to Motueka (via a call at the wrong place), to find my bus had got fed up with waiting... FOund a phone,and made another call - and finally made it up to Mara-something in time to catch a bus ... read more

Everyone was awake at a reasonable hour this morning. We had toast at the hotel and hit the road. Before leaving Nelson, we drove through the main stretch looking to see if a store that Avery was interested in was open. It wasn’t, but we did find a Starbucks - a new location that was not yet listed in the Starbucks directory (so new that they don’t yet have Nelson mugs). I took this a very good omen. We took the requisite picture, grabbed a latte and headed down the main highway toward Reefton (about 240kms). We made a couple of stops on the way. The first was at the Hope Saddle on the edge of the Buller Gorge (the Buller River which coincidentally runs through the gorge is the major river of the west coast ... read more

Not much to report since our Franz Josef adventures. We travelled up to Nelson to look for work but there wasn't much going in Nelson City itself, so we got the bus an hour up the road to Motueka. Its a nice little town right on the coast and its the heart of the apple, pear and kiwi fruit growing region. Orchards rely on backpackers to harvest the fruit so finding a job was easy (no reference required!). We started out picking pears. Working in the fresh air, hearing the birds and catching some sun while earning some cash - brilliant, or so we thought. It was, to quote one of our Thai friends, 'f@$%ing HIDEOUS'! Eight hours picking pears according to their size in the searing hot sun, earing a pittence was the unfortunate ... read more

Got here around two hours ago, was very tired and grumpy from coach journey and last night, however the hostel is really nice, and we're here for 2 nights, so actually get chance to get unpacked and had a shower before coming into town to buy new flip flops (very annoyed have left mine in river valley) but actually worked out OK as the nice lady in the shop gave me a replacement man-bag as mine is now knackered. Yes. My new flip flops are brown. Came into internet place to update this, and am now going to have roast dinner and apple crumble for a fiver, then one glass of wine, and go to bed very very early in my nice clean sheets. Sweet. Tomorrow am up at 7 to go on a trip around ... read more

Someone asked me a few days ago if I felt I was somewhere else. Well, I'm certainly in a place I've never been to, seeing incredible sights, but nothing I've couldn't picture in my mind. Sure, seeing it was a totally different experience, but I wasn't supprised by snowy mountains, for example. This has changed when I got to Wharariki beach. You have to walk like 15 minutes through some coastal vegetation, while the ground changes slowly to sand. But only when you past that last dune, you can actually see the beach itself. For me, there I could really feel I was somewhere else. The low vegetation streches on some of the dunes, although most of them are just grey soft sand, creating a somewhat curved landscape. And beyond those rolling dunes, like a hundred ... read more