Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 38

שלום לכולם! אז בעיקרון היינו אמורים להמשיך דרומה, לכיוון גריימאות' והחוף המערבי.. בדגש על הבעיקרון, אבל בניו זילנד כמו בניו זילנד דברים משתנים מאוד מהר ובהחלטה של שנייה החלטנו להישאר פה באיזור נלסון לעוד יום-יומיים רק כדי לזכות לראות שוב את החופים המדהימים של פארק אייבל טזמן. מצאנו ללילה אכסניה ממש נחמדה לישון בה ואפילו היה לנו זמן לעשות קניות ולפנק את עצמנו עם אוכל מטורף (במושגים של מטיילים..). כשקמנו בבוקר חיכה לנו מזג אוויר פשוט מושלם ליום על החוף.. אז מיהרנו לפארק ונתנו לעצמנו עוד כמה שעות מול הנוף הפשוט מטורף הזה. הפעם לא הספקנו לצלם כי היינו עסוקים מדיי בלהנות מהמקום.. אחרי הצהריים הצלחנו לשמחתנו למצוא לנו עוד משפחה להתארח אצלה, וגם הפעם שיחק לנו המזל, כי מדובר במשפחה די עשירה עם בית שרואים רק בסרטים.. (: חבל שיש לנו פה רק לילה אחד, ... read more

First of all...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for all the holiday messages; they brought a piece of home all the way over to kiwi land. I hear everyone at home can relate to my having a green Christmas, not much fun is it? I actually didn't mind so much because clearly there was no hope for snow here. Surprisingly the only day that I was really homesick was Christmas Eve. It was slightly depressing to know that the calendar date meant something but I wasn't feeling anything at all. Christmas is definitely a North American holiday. Everyone is just so chilled and relaxed about everything over here that they don’t really make that big a deal out of Christmas. There were very few decorations and I think I heard maybe two carols. ... read more

After a fairly painless ferry journey, which involved us sleeping whilst in the ferry queue, then sleeping on the ferry, then sleeping again in a carpark after in a picnic reserve, we made ourway round the coast to a region called Nelson. Pulled up at a campsite for the night and booked ourselves onto a wine tasting tour for the next day. Got into the spirit of things by polishing off a bottle of white and a bottle of red. Woke up the following day and headed out on the tour. Stopped at 4 lovely wineries (with a lovely gourmet platter at the first and last stops), accidentally buying a bottle at each... whoops! Not as cheap as you would expect! Went to The Smuggler (pub) for tea, and had the largest plate of pork ribs ... read more

Well, we are now in the South Island having left the North behind over the three hour ferry ride accross Cook Straight. Even the ferry was good, sailing from Wellington to Picton via Queen Charlotte Sound which is part of the excellent Marlborough Sounds region. The open sea was a bit rough (although apparantly not by their standards), but the sounds were calm, to Claire's relief. Picton seemed like a nice little port town but having only seen it from the boat and spending all of ten minutes there maybe we ain't the best to judge that. We then hit Nelson (via a wine tasting session at the village winery) where we stayed for four nights. Nelson is a really nice "city" (50 000 people) which due to its location in the south, south island manages ... read more

This was an early start for Monday a 7am pick up by shuttle bus to take us to the ferry port. We checked our bags in then went and waited in the lounge, We then were called to board the ferry I managed to get a recliner seat at the front of the boat so could see everything, the crossing was very calm. On arrival in Picton we boarded a bus and drove down to Nelson where I stopped 2 nights at the Paridaso hostel.... read more