Blogs from Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 16

Howdy doo di? We’ve just had a couple of nights in a place called Picton, situated at the North East point of the South Island. It’s a nice enough little town; a few nice beaches in the area &some small cafes and bars, although its main pulls are A) it’s where you catch the enormous ferry to the North Island, and B) it’s very close proximity to the Queen Charlotte Sound Walking track. We didn’t have enough time do any tramping on this occasion as we needed to get back to Nelson for our second sailing course, however we didn’t want to waste our time here either - so in the end we plumped for a 5 hour cruise on a mail boat delivering letters and parcels, groceries and other provisions to the remote homesteads and ... read more

Yooo hooo! Us again! I dunno, you wait for a blog for days and then three come along at once! Seems we've had a change of plan this morning and now have some time to kill. Up at 6am to drive to Picton (again) - not for more horrors on a bike - but to catch the ferry to Wellington, thus ending our South Island experience. Not so fast ... Storms overnight have meant ferries have been cancelled and our 10am sailing is more likely to be 4pm ("hypothetically" said the booking agent). There are 10m swells in the Cook Strait and winds of 40-50 knots making for some very rough water. "Crisis point" in the words of the tired-and-bored-of-repeating-myself PA. Not crisis point but time for cake we say! As you can tell from the ... read more

Two Days on the Track We caught the ferry at 8 am out from Picton to the start of the Track at Ships Cove. That was where Captain Cook holed up half a dozen times in the 18th century. We walked naturist then for a half day including a swim to Furnaux Cove. Ferry to Punga Resort for the night. A long day then, meeting only six people, over 27 km to the ferry home to Picton. Wow what an experience. Sunny with a little cloud for respite, through bush of many kinds and over the tops of the ridges of the hills. Just great or awesome, I should say. Wonderful, wonderful walking as we like it. Great views, not too many hills and wearing what we like. And the perfect weather.... read more

Well Well.... Here we are at last! We've made it to the South Island, and personally, I'm Stoked! After 3 weeks in the busy city of Wellington, we're back in the van and on the road. I must say that it was nice to have a home base for a while, but it's even nicer to see the beautiful sights that the South has to offer. We spent 3 hour today on a very scenic boat ride from Wellingotn to Picton, and are now heading toward Abel Tasman National Park to meet up with some friends (Stacey and Jesse from Santa Cruz) to Kayak and hike. However, they're not going to meet us until Thursday, so we have almost a week to explore the Queen Charlotte Sounds, and surrounding areas. We're planning on mosying out toward ... read more

Det borjar narma sig slutet av var tid i Nya Zealand och annu finns det sa mycket kvar att se. Eftersom vi har lite olika uppfattningar om vad vi ska agna tiden at delar vi pa oss en vecka. Under denna tid fixar Per med visum till Indonesien och gar en vandring i Tararua-omradet utanfor Wellington medan Linnea stannar kvar nagra dagar extra pa Sydon och gor en vandring vid dess nordliga kust. "Queen Charlotte Sounds" ar den plats dar Cook tydligen trivdes bast, eftersom han tillbringade mycket av sin Nya Zeelandska tid har. Linnea tar en bat ut fran kuststaden Picton till Ships Cove (Cooks huvudsakliga ankringsplats) och borjar traska in mot Picton igen. Detta ar en "lyxvandring" i form av att bat transporterar packningen at en och dessutom far man bo lite lyxigare om ... read more