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Published: November 8th 2006
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I'm now in the South Island on the way to Christchurch. Just stopped in a little beach town on the way from Nelson where we stayed last night. I've completely lost track of the days and when I last wrote but I'll try to remember everything! (Oh and I've forgotten to bring my skydiving photos, but I will try to remember at some point!! They're in my rucksac under the coach at the mo!)
After my last entry in Wellington I headed over to the city museum. It's a little bit like the Exploritory in Bristol for those in the know. (For those unfortunate enough not to have been there it's really cool! you can play with exibits and stuff) In Wellington museum there was a section dedicaited to the seismic activity because Wellington is situated where two plates meet. There was this cool little house that replicated what and earthquake would feel like! very cool. Also lot's more Maori art and history, which I'm really getting into. Think it's my newest interest, going to find out everything I can about them! On the way back to the coach I walked past this little shop called 'Cool Britania!" It had
loads of English produce that you cant get over here! I couldn't resist a packet of twiglets and some Haribo, do you know they dont sell it here?!! So that kept me happy on the way over on the ferry to the south island! (Sorry parents, but was suffering somewhat of a hangover, that was unable to be cured by the full english that the hotel laid on!! was in serious need of some sugar!)
On the ferry, which was a whopping 3hour journey, we met a Kiwi called Greg. He is a ski instructor and was heading home to nelson before "chasing the snow" to california. I was sooooo jealous!whislt New Zealand is amazing, the sight of snow on the top of 'Mount Doom' made me want to go skiing! Anyway, he let us use his laptop to look at photos and the other group's DVD of skydiving. I'm sorry to keep on about it, but it was sooooooo cool! I cant wait for you to see them! (but more about that when I put them up!) We landed on the south island after a nice calm trip. The sea between the two island can apparently become really
choppy because of the wind that tunnels between the two islands. Last tour that they took over took 9 hours to cross the straight because of the high winds!! The scenery on the way over was amazing, most of the area is part of the National Park so it's all protected. We arrived in this tiny little town called picton which is basically just a ferryport - it's worse than dover!- and carried on driving to Nelson. We were all pretty exhausted that night so nothing fun happened, just takeout piza and some palour games!
The next day (I've lost track of the actual days but I think that's saturday!) we went to the National Park called Abel Tasmin. It is sooooooooo pretty, on the northern coast of the south island and so has beaches and forest. Claire, Emma, Marcel (weird dutch bloke) and Jens (funny Danish bloke) caught a boat from a little town and rode around the coast to a little bay. We saw some cute seals, and one not so cute one who was eating a breakfast of octopus. Because seals have no hands they eat it by throwing it into the air and ripping bits
off! It looked really scary! We'd decided to go on the 4hour hike, we set off at 11 and weren't being picked up until 4 so it sounded doable. That was until we started the walk! It was all uphill!!!! EXHAUSTING!! our halfway point was a beautiful beach, so we stopped there to have somer lunch. When we got to our lunch stop the weather was absolutley stunny. Not a cloud in the sky and baking hot (well I was baking hot, but that could have just been from the walking!!) So, quick stop, change into shorts and bikini, then back on the next 2 hour trek to our pickup point - think a few people walking in the opposit had a bit of a shock when they rounded the corner to be confronted by 3 girls in bikini tops! But it was too hot! We tried to walk the next section really fast so we'd have about an hour or so on the beach to work on our tans and go for a swim. but when we got there we were all to exhausted to swim and just colapsed on the beach - it's a hard life! That night
Getting the sun in!
Far too cold to swim, so had to make do with standing, we were trying to get to the rock behind us to get a mermaid picture! we Greg (from the boat) came to our BBQ, bringing home cooked Banoffee pie with him, and we spent part of the night watching the fireworks on the beach across from our hotel and the remainder boogying away in Nelson, which is a pretty town and really arts and crafty. It's a shame we didn't have longer there, but I've found myself saying that about everywhere! Next stop Christchurch to pick up some newbies!
Hope you're all well Sxx
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