Advertisement
Published: June 27th 2005
Edit Blog Post
After finishing the Queen Charlotte Track I decided to give my feet a rest! So, it was back on the bus again, this time going west to Nelson. I ended up in the same hostel as a girl I'd walked the last day of the Queen Charlotte Track with so we spent a fun few days doing the 'sights' of Nelson together - we went to the cinema (all in the cause of resting our feet) and got accosted by Darth Vader in the foyer (the latest Star Wars had just come out), had a trip to the World of Wearable art museum (is amazing what you can do with sparkle and plastic ;0)) and the Vintage car musuem. Oh and sat drinking lots of coffee and eating Shortbread (freebie for the hostel we were staying at!)
I’d almost decided to hire a car before arriving in Nelson but when I got there and found I could hire one for only a little more than the cost of bussing it around that kind of made my mind up for me..... and I seem to be developing a minor bus allergy... ;0) One of the highlights of my trip here with
Sam last year was a two day kayaking trip along the Abel Tasman coastline and I was keen to see some more of the area. So, having picked up my (white, rather old, +100k km on the clock, but did the job admirably) car, my first stop was Kaiteriteri, the place where we started our kayaking trip one rainy morning last November. Unsurprisingly it’s quite different here at this time of year - instead of the busy beach and flotillas of kayaks that we found last year there were just a few sea birds to share the beach with this time- perfect for relaxing with a coffee and muffin though!!
From Kaiteriteri I worked my way north towards Farewell Spit, spending a couple of sunny days walking the top part of the Abel Tasman Coastal track on the way. Apart from the 3 zillion extra freckles I gained I had the most amazing coastal views, had lunch watching seals playing in the sea and had beautiful golden beaches all to myself.... well almost, there was the odd sea bird or two and at one point I even had to share my beach with another person!! How rude! For me
this was definitely the time of year to visit, (although maybe not for kayaking as the sea was ccccold) - obviously it isn't as hot as in the summer but it was great having it all to myself. Apparently in the summer the beaches are packed with kayaks and people and the coastal track is busy with hikers - great for a social but not if you just want to chill and appreciate the scenery. I think I only saw a total of about 5 people over the two days I spent walking here.
I also had my second close encounter with a herd of cows.... and this time it was a herd!!! So, I'm driving along a country road and infront of me a farmer is moving his rather large cow's, along the road from one field to another. Now cow's move very slowly..... so do you drive at them and rev your engine and toot the horn to get them to move out of the way or just drive slowly along behind them??? I wasn't in any great hurry so went fo the second option..... which worked until the farmer brought another lot onto the road behind
me and suddenly I'm surrounded by these big cow's peering down at me in my little car ..... At this point I started wondering how I could get away with not paying damage excess on my hire car for any dents caused by a cow kick......
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0463s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb