Blogs from Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Day 14 Wellington to Nelson, 3.5 hrs. on the ferry and 110km on Spot. Showpony makes a comeback of sorts The Donkey got dropped off at the ferry terminal by Butterfly and the busy little hen early the next morning. The weather had finally turned and was beautiful. The crossing was smooth which was good as donkeys do not have sea-legs. The highlight of the trip was a huge school of dolphins accompanying the boat in the middle of Cook Strait. All the passengers were oohing and aahing. Everybody loves dolphins, the Donkey thought. Surely it does not happen often that a donkey with a bike called Spot traveled on a ferry but nobody took any notice of the Donkey. He wished he was a dolphin The Donkey sat beside a desert rabbit from Dunedin who ... read more

Here we are in New Zealand and things are not starting brilliantly. Yes, the dinner last night was fantastic (Harbour Lights), and the wifi works and we had a comfortable night’s sleep in the eclectic Collingwood Manor B&B here in Nelson, at the northern end of New Zealand’s South Island. And the helmets we bought online and sent to Wozz the airbrush artist have arrived safely at the B&B and look great. And all the people on the tour with us, including John Fitzwater of GoTourNZ.com, seem pleasant and colourful characters. Yet I find myself irritated by three things. Firstly, we are about to be hit by cyclone Gita that is expected to bring 200mm of rain in one day with winds of up to 150Km per hour. Secondly, I already know I can’t close my ... read more

I'm back to civilisation after the Milford Track and I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad... At first we, Adela and I, had to take a ferry for 1h30 to finally start this famous track that I was waiting for so long. The first day we just had to hike 5 kilometers which was nothing compared to the other days. As we had the whole afternoon we decided to go to the lake next to the hut. This and playing cards in the evenings became part of our journey during the next days. The first two days were through a beautiful rain forest valley surrounded by mountains covered with snow. Because of the heavy snow last week and because of the sunny weather this week there were hundreds if not even thousands of waterfalls flowing ... read more

C'est après avoir passé la nuit à Motueka que nous reprennons la route pour aller encore plus au nord qu'Abel Tasman: la Golden Bay. Nous nous dirigeons donc au Cape Farewell, loin d'imaginer à quel point nous allions traverser de superbes paysages et que nous trouverions un soleil de plomb! Le Cape Farewell représente le point le plus au nord de l'île sud et vaut vraiment le détour. Nous partons ensuite pour Wharariki Beach, une plage aussi vaste que sa beauté où des paons nous ont accueilli sur le parking, voire harcelé pour quelques morceaux de pain, grains de raisin et pelures de kiwi! On voulait visiter les Rawhiti Caves mais les commentaires sur campermate (et la montagne en face de nous) nous ont découragé car la marche pour y accéder doit être particulièrement pénible. Nous ... read more

Geo: -41.1101, 173.011... read more