Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 47

Well folks, I know it's been a while. You miss me, I miss you, and there is nothing all that exciting to write home about! I returned to Nelson a week ago Saturday and promptly started looking for work. There is a newish cafe here called Stingray that serves food, coffees, drinks, etc. They have a lovely courtyard and a DJ some evenings. The owners are these two laid back guys. Early 40s, I get the impression they earned a bit of money and thought it would be cool to open a restaurant. Actually, one of the owners, a guy named Nick, use to work at the first CPK on Rodeo and says he opened the Topanga Canyon store. He thinks he remembers Uncle Jon but I wasn't convinced. Anyway, they are slighty crazy - just ... read more

Friday, we drove up to the north edge of the south island. Again we followed the advice of that woman from the info in Takaka, and we went to Wharariki beach in low tide. She said that the baby seals are playing in the pools that are left when the sea goes back. And this time she had no mistake. We went down to the beach and there they were - little seal babies playing like kids love to play. They were swimming and doing "flip flops" just like the Dusky dolphins we saw in Kaikura. We watched them for maybe 30 minutes as they were so amazing. Still in Wharariki beach, there are beautiful rock formations, little rocky islets close to the shore with holes in them - wait for the pictures. In fact, Erez ... read more

It’s a complicated and incomprehensive title this time? I know, but there’s a story behind it, don’t worry… Tuesday morning we head out from Murchison to a village named St. Arnaud, for my first tramp (which is a hike of more then 1 day) - the 2 days Angelus hut trek in Nelson lakes national park. Based on our previous luck (mainly Erez’s), we trusted to have a good weather. There are 3 ways to go to the hut, so you choose one to go up and one to go down. We chose the most difficult one to go up the 1000m between us and the hut (well, I didn’t choose but I also didn’t carry the big bag with 2 sleeping bags, cooking stuff and food for 2 days… so who was I to decide?). ... read more

The Queen Charlotte Drive Named after an 18th Dutch Queen (this is from a hazy memory now) the Queen Charlotte sounds are an absolutely breathtaking area of New Zealand. They're unspoilt and pristine with countless miles of coastline that winds in and out and in and out seemingly forever - the best way by far to see them would be to sail around them, but we only had the option of driving along the specatacular Queen Charlotte Drive which winds its way from near Picton (where the ferry goes from) along the coastline to the Pelorus river. The road then goes inland and turns into the highway to Nelson - which is what we followed. At times this drive is so beautiful, you just have to stop and look (as is so common in New Zealand) ... read more

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as the Gerry and the Pacemakers number but the having sailed across both I can say that this one wins hands down. It was an early crossing so we had to be at the port for 7am, the boat left at 8am and it was so foggy that we didn't hit top speed for a while, the crossing took about 20 minutes longer than expected and we docked in Picton at 10:35. The views from the ferry were amazing and it was roasting when we landed so a quick change into our shorts and we were ready for the 2 hour drive to Nelson. Picton looks nice and we're back here in a couple of weeks so took the opportunity to nosey about a couple of hostels then ... read more