Blogs from Motueka, Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

Now at Carmel and Alistair's near Nelson. We had a very different christmas yesterday - went to the beach (got sunburnt despite being in the shade most of the time) and then back to the house for a barbeque - scallops (caught by alistair), Crayfish (caught by a friend of Alistair's) NZ lamb and steak. Really tasty and delicious. Prior to arriving here on Christmas Eve we stayed at Kaikoura and I went swimming with dolphins and then we both went on a Whale watch. I have discovered that I'm not really into dolphin swimming. I haven't snorkelled before and felt really claustrophobic with the mask on - hence I was the only one swimming without a mask and so couldn't see a lot. I was seasick on the way back to shore to add ... read more

To get to the other side, of course. But three hours later? To travel only roughly 50 nautical miles? One wouldn’t think, but before we knew it, the first half of our day was gone. After picking up our new rental car (they don’t allow transport of rental cars from the north island to the south island for some reason), it was already 12:30, so made tracks for the Marlborough wine country. New Zealand in general is becoming known the world over as an up and coming wine growing area. However, the Marlborough area of New Zealand (the northern section of the south island) is known as having an ideal climate for Sauvignon Blanc. We tried several wineries (of which I thought I recognized one name: Isabel), and between all them, they managed to sell us ... read more

Not much to report since our Franz Josef adventures. We travelled up to Nelson to look for work but there wasn't much going in Nelson City itself, so we got the bus an hour up the road to Motueka. Its a nice little town right on the coast and its the heart of the apple, pear and kiwi fruit growing region. Orchards rely on backpackers to harvest the fruit so finding a job was easy (no reference required!). We started out picking pears. Working in the fresh air, hearing the birds and catching some sun while earning some cash - brilliant, or so we thought. It was, to quote one of our Thai friends, 'f@$%ing HIDEOUS'! Eight hours picking pears according to their size in the searing hot sun, earing a pittence was the unfortunate ... read more

Yesterday we went and saw the amazing pancake rocks where the sea was sooo incredibly powerful, the blow hole was a bit of a let down, as it wasnt blowing due to a low tide. We watched the water swirling around and crashing against the massive rocks whcih was really cool. We then were told that the road which we wanted to take North to Nelson was closed -ahhhh so we had to head back to Greymouth and go the longer way around - i think it was because of a land slide - not suprised actually as the roads here are unbleievable - windy as hell and hair pin bends galore! So after a long drive we arrived in Nelson and camped for the night. Today we headed off into the sunshine towards Takaka north ... read more