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Published: October 18th 2005
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August 11th 2005-August 13 2005. http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_iS.html
*To better view these photos- click on "Full Image"
I knew I couldn't let Charles leave the country without taking him to the South island. We were both south island newbies, and decided to explore together. We set out on thursday morning, after a quick breakfast, and a rather hurried and frantic rush to catch the Interislander Ferry (I somehow 'forgot' where the ferry terminal was- We barely made it...sheesh).
We settled in to the Ferry and enjoyed a scenic, and sometimes bumpy 3 hour cruise to Marlborough Sounds. Our destination: The Bay of Many Coves Resort in the Queen Charlotte Sound. The ride was beautiful- we waved goodbye to Wellington City Skyline and looked ahead excitedly towards the Snow capped peaks of the kaikoura Mountains and the deepblue green waters of the sounds. Our trip was underway!!
Upon arrival in Picton, a sleepy little harbor port town at the head of the sounds, we were suprised by the warm hospitality of the local fur seals who greeted us at the docks. You would think these seals were out of Sea world- waving and flipping on their backs for us!! what
Interislander Ferry Ride
Leaving the North Island enroute to Picton a sight.
The resort is only accessible by water, as is much of the Sounds. The only road stops at the mouth of Queen Charlotte sound- which makes it ideal for surrounding yourself in beauty and feeling far away from the bustle of the rest of the world. We caught the Cougar line ferry to our destination, and wished away the cloudy skies(the only bad weather on our entire trip!) -and to our luck sunny skies followed. Apparently there were orca whales in the sounds that day, but we were unlucky and couldnt find any! 😞 maybe i will just have to wait until kaikoura in the south island for that! (home of whale watching)
Our three days at the Bay of Many coves was fun filled with kayacking, bird watching (and hearing) including a little robin family who lived on our balcony, swimming, eating AMAZING gormet food, and tramping the Queen Charlotte Track- one of the most beautiful walks in the whole of New Zealand (and we agree!!!)
(see pictures!)
We sadly and reluctantly packed our bags and took the ferry out of the sounds and headed towards Picton on Saturday monring. Seeing as how much
Friendly Seal
"Welcome to the Sounds!"
this seal was one of many seals who feast on the salmon at the salmon farm-they eat 4000-5000 $ worth of fish each day (i think those figures are right...) a rental car cost, we purcahsed two round trip bus tickets to Nelson, a small arts/crafty town about 2 hours from Picton, in a central location to several national parks.
The bus ride was a good choice- we were able to sit back and relax and enjoy he passing scenery of the Richmond Mountain Range, and the regions countless wineries- ( on another note, we tasted different marlborough and nelson wines each night, and we both agree that they are fantastic, some of the best ever!! yummy--I see a winery tour blog soon???) .
After living it up in the sounds, we chose to play it quiet and law low $$ wise in nelson. We thought- oh we should just check into one of those cute little hostels...for just pennies a night....
not what we had planned. After some tea at a nearby cafe, we caught a van to a hostel which willl go unnamed... but Paradise was in the title...cant be half bad right? wrong. To spare you the details, long story short, I urged charles to get our money back and we did a walk of shame from the entrance out to the street, lugging
our bags behind us... without anywhere to stay. Luckily we got a good deal at an historic B&B nearyby and welcomed the room which fortunately lacked the stench of body odor that unnamed hostel was abundant of.
We explored nelson for the remainder of the evening, and checked in with Kevin our hang gliding instructor to finalize the plans for the next morning. Full of excitement and eager to fly we headed home to the villa and relaxed with a cup of tea and biscuits by the inn's fire. (both of which were offered to us upon arrival).
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Well everyone, I am off to Queenstown tomorrow morning, to meet up with Rachel, Lauren, and Jenn, some fellow australearners and good friends to hit up the South of the South Island for 10 days. We are so excited and ready for adventure. get ready for some awesome blogs... I will try to post some while I am down there at the hostels. Buckle up- it'll be a crazy ride!!!
until next time, stay clean and dont do drugs.
cheers- shelly
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