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Published: November 30th 2007
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Thanks for the comments everyone 😊 Yes it has been a few days, one of you started to become very worried. I will let the rest of you figure out who that person may be..... But do not fret, we are fine.
After the awesome power of the glaciers we continued north along the coast to a small town, (it only has one cafe), called Punakaiki, where we stayed in a nice little out of the way hostel that was a 5 min walk to the beach. Unfortunately, the dreaded sand fly was lurking along the shore, but I just made sure to cover all of my skin except my face and I was fine.
Oh yeah almost forgot. Right before checking into our hostel we did another beer tasting tour in Greymouth. We did a tasting of the Monteiths beer. The tour was great because the guy who was guiding us actually works in the factory so he knew everything about the process inside and out. Plus we got to taste 7 different brews and we had an extra 10 min to drink as much as we wanted. Ok back to Punakaiki.
After a night we
checked out the local attraction which are limestone blow holes. During high tide water shoots through the holes in a great spray that, when big enough, drenches unsuspecting visitors. Paul and I managed to avoid it for the most part, but I only had a 3 second window of time to take a picture before I had to cover my camera and run. The picture with the rainbow was brought to you under great duress!
After the misting we headed further north about 10 min to check out a hike that was recommended to us by a fellow hosteler. We hiked along a river for a good hour before heading up a steep embankment, where we scrambled along moss covered rocks. Upon arriving at our destination we found a daunting yet freaking awesome cave that we explored by ourselves for a good 20 min. We could have gone farther, but we would have to crawl on our hands and knees through mud, so we did not attempt to press further.
We continued north east from the cave hike to our destination, St Anaud. It is a small town in the Nelson lakes region, that was pretty bland. Our
hostel had a 47% rating which is 2% away from the worst rated hostel in all of New Zealand. The main reason being that I had to pay $2 for 7min of hot water for my shower! But of course the hot water didn't start coming out until 3 min into the 7 min, so I had a frantic 4 min to lather my hair and wash the soap out before the freezing water hit my skin. Plus the room we stayed in had 4 bunk beds, all connected to each other. I could have rolled into the bed next to me they were so close.
We did a nice little walk along the local lake, which was pretty, but nothing spectacular. Not compared to a cave! All the remaining hikes might be a let down I thought, until we got to the Abel Tasman region!
The Golden Bay, Abel Tasman region is located at the furthest north west point of the south island. And all I can say is wow! It is a stunning area. We are staying at a gorgeous and cheap hostel, right near the beach, that seems like it should be a $80 a
night bed and breakfast, but we only pay $22! I posted a couple pics of the hostel for your viewing pleasure.
The day after we arrived, we did a 7 hr hike of part of a great walk. The Abel Tasman track. It was long, and tiresome, but my legs are getting used to continuous walking, so I wasn't as sore as I was after the Rangitoto hike the first day in Auckland.
The hike itself was spectacular. It had everything I wanted. From a gradual incline to a look out around the bay, to walks on beautiful golden sandy beaches, to forest covered tracks with fox glove flowers, an abundance of quail, and bell birds singing in the trees. We started at high tide so a lot of the coast looked, well, like a coast, but once we were almost back to our car we saw that at low tide beautiful rolling sandy ground dribbled with water was revealed to us. I have a picture as proof of my statement! I think it will hold up in a court of law.
Today was pretty easy and lazy compared to the hike yesterday. We headed further north
west as far as we could go to a beach with many sand dunes and incredible winds that projected the sand into my eyes at times. But I still don't think it was quite as windy as the Otago peninsula, but close.
Before the hectic stroll on the windy beach we stopped in at a local home made chocolate shop to reward our taste buds for putting up with PB&J everyday. MMMM, I am enjoying chocolate more and more each time I have it. Probably because I haven't had to much variety in my diet, so anything with a decent flavor is simply amazing.
Oh yeah I almost forgot. We saw the local hot springs called pupu. They churn out 14,000 Liters of water each second! That's about 3500 gallons of water. Apparently the water mainly comes from the local river, where it seeps underground into marble passage ways and is trapped there until it arises through the springs. The information chart said sometimes water is trapped underground from 2-10 years.
Tomorrow we head to Nelson where we will be staying two nights and then Picton for one, before making our way back to the north island.
Only two weeks left in New Zealand! It has been incredible so far, but I am ready for the next country. Bring on the Aussie's.
I hear there was a massive get together for Thanksgiving in San Anselmo. I'm sad I missed out. Next year i'll try to make it 😊
It's nice to hear from those that have been sending messages. Keep me updated on how all of you are, i'm glad to hear it.
Daniel
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carol
non-member comment
thanks
Hi Daniel. Thanks for accommodating a mom's request. Your pictures are true photos but the hostel and Paul in the kitchen are a mom's treasure. So delighted to get in on your adventures. Thinking fondly of you both, Carol