The bus drops me at Kaiteriteri, where I catch my boat to Bark Bay, but Lisa goes to Marahau for a water taxi, so we decide to just meet at Anchorage Bay instead of trying to find each other on the track.

The Abel Tasman Coast track is one of the most popular Great Walks in the smallest and most popular National Park in NZ, so I'm expecting crowds. Our boat is full, and it takes us round the coastline of the park, with a stop at Split Apple Rock, an amazing boulder on a rock near the shoreline which is apple shaped and has split almost perfectly down the middle. Then we motor on, wind and rain-spray in our faces (the idiots who chose the open top deck of the boat) to various bays along the way before the boat stops at the nearest safe-stopping point to Bark Bay.

Even in the spitting rain, the park is a beautiful place, aquamarine seas, golden beaches, tree palms and green bush alive with birds and cicadas. It is (slightly damp) paradise.

I walk alone the first 40mins or so, then, after struggling down to Sandfly Bay in the hope of reaching a beach which, I discover on reaching the bottom of the very steep track, is covered in the sea (it's high tide, oops), I meet two guys coming down and warn them off making the journey ( I did get to stand on a boulder by the sea-edge and wave to some kayakers, but it probably wasn't worth it for the steep climb back up). We get talking and end up walking together the rest of the track. One guy is from Henley, the other from Brazil - the Brazilian guy has no raincoat, so when the rain really gets going he gets soaked. We pass some pretty miserable looking hikers on the trail, but luckily everyone in our group has a sense of humour about it. It is great actually - despite the water in my shoes - it's not a hard hike, even in the slippery conditions, and the bush has become a rainforest, water dripping off the leaves, the small waterfalls and streams we pass rushing and full, and the glimpses of bays and beaches through the trees are still gorgeous, with the turquiose sea and gold sand.

A highlight apart from the beaches and views is the swing-bridge which we reach after a soggy lunch at Torrent Bay. It stretches over wide river canyon, with awesome views up and down. Everyone ignores or doesn't read the 5 persons max. sign, so the wild swinging of the bridge adds to excitement of the crossing!

Just before we reach Anchorage we take a detour down to the mysteriously named Cleopatra's pool, a 5-minute track which takes us to the edge of small, boulder-filled river, with the pool on the other side. After debating a little about the possibility of broken ankles, we take off our shoes and cross, narrowly missing getting even wetter. When we reach the pool, after a scramble up a muddy bank, hanging on to roots, it's so worth it - a little piece of rainforest paradise, deserted apart from us, with a deep cold clear pool, filled by a waterfall - stunning.

The sense of achievement when we see the sign to Anchorage (20mins), and then finally run onto the beach whooping, as the sun comes out to dry our wet clothes, is pretty immense.

written by  LizIsHere on February 18, 2010 from Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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I take a different route back, turning what I expected to be a one-hour walk in to a three-hour one, over the sheep-grazing hills high above Nelson, then weaving down through bush, then cool forest, then finally emerging at the Japanese Gardens.

written by  LizIsHere on February 17, 2010 from Nelson, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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Nelson (the sunniest place in NZ apparently, but failing at that today) is colourful, a wee bit alternative, and has a bit more soul than Christchurch - a bit more life and culture, i think. Anthony, the English owner of the VW Bug-themed Bug Backpackers, where I'm staying tonight, picks me up from the bus station, which is a relief since the hostel is 20minute walk (in today's muggy weather) from town. The hostel is nice, quite large and clean, spread over two buildings. There is fresh bread in the morning and, if Anthony's girlfriend feels like it, fresh-baked scones or muffins in the evening - it was nice Surprise the first night when Anthony came round to the slide-glass door of my 6-share dorm at 8pm with a plate of blueberry muffins! The hostel when I arrive seems to be full of German travellers - my entire dorm, and everyone I pass by, seems to speaking German. At times, it feels like I'm actually in Germany, before I leave the building and speak to Kiwi shopkeepers!

One of my roommates, Lisa, also from Germany, hears about my planned two-day hike on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, with an overnight stop on the Aquapackers backpacker boat in Anchorage Bay, and decides to do the same, on the same two days, so looks like we'll be walking together.

written by  LizIsHere on February 16, 2010 from Nelson, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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Back at the hostel, where it's too easy to just chill out all day... I... chill out at the hostel for the rest of the day (after having my first NZ pie from the local bakery!). I meet a German guy called Marco and we talk for ages about NZ, Germany and hiking - he's a serious hiker, having done the Tongariro Circuit and the Abel Tasman Coastal track. He also had some pretty wild stories about his hitchhiking experiences in NZ!!! Later on Per gives me a bowl of homemade pad thai (he learnt how to make it in thailand) for dinner (I must look hungry), which is tasty but so spicy my mouth goes numb!
I also meet some an Israeli couple of who are fascinating to talk to - the conversation moves from the normal where are you from-where are you going stuff, to insights into the Israeli side of the Israel-Palestine issue, and foreign media sensationalisation of it, to their life on a kibbutz, and the hardships on themselves and their relationship by Israel's compulsory military service. The girl recounts a Swiss guy who complained at length to her about his (of course, neutral!!!) country's compulsory service: "You cannot complain to an Israeli about such things!" she says, slightly disbelieving.

Later on still two American hippies turn up. They're came over for the Rainbow Gathering, which was held last month. They're a bit strange, but interesting to watch in the way they immeadiately take over the place and start using the toys and the space. The girl is very chilled out and cool - and she cooks up a bit communal pot of chai on the stove, which is great! The guy also shows me and Marco some juggling tricks to practice (once we manage the basics, obviously...). Then Israeli guy starts playing the digeridoo that is lying around, and teaching another German guy how to play it, the fairy lights are turned on and the stereo bought out, and it's a very cool atmosphere, with people juggling, dancing, hula hooping and just sitting on the deck chatting. It winds down about 11 (though the american guy has to be told to wind it down by the hostel owner!).

written by  LizIsHere on February 15, 2010 from Picton, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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Still, the paddling felt like hard going for the first half an hour out of the harbour area and into the Sound itself as we got used to movements; with motorboats speeding past and the huge Strait-crossing ferries towering over our group of four kayaks. Luckily, as a billy-no-mates, I had Harry in the back of my canoe, taking care of all the steering! \

We paddled about 10 miles in all, crossing the Sound at the tiny Marble Island, where we drifted up to the rocks in the shallows, which were encrusted with mussles. Harry scooped up harmless Four Crescent (Four moon? something like that) jellyfish for us to hold - they were really slimy but it was cool to hold something that you've always been warned will sting you. We paddled to a tiny deserted beach for a ten minute 'morning tea' stop, then on for a tougher hour-long paddle, past more deserted beaches, and quiet bays with large, expensive houses on them, to Ngakuta Bay for lunch. Harry explained that many people see the Sounds in the idyllic summer and decide to move there; then when winter sets in they go almost crazy with the isolation (the majority of Sounds properties are only accesible by boat), and many last only 1-2 years living there. He also pointed out that NZ has very few colourfully flowering plants, because there were no bees in the country until they were introduced by European settlers (a slightly more successful introducton that possums or stoats!).
After lunch we crossed the Sound again, to follow the shoreline which is crowded with bush and rocks, birds and sealife, and silent apart from the clamour of cicadas and the slap of the water against the rocks and our paddles. Harry pointed out greenlipped mussels, starfish, and coolest of all, stingrays and eagle rays, sitting in the sand in the shallows, their barbed tails clearly visible. If we approached too closely they would glide away, dark shadows moving over the seabed, under our boats and out into the deeper water.

Our final paddle of the day took us across back to Ngatuka Bay, a rougher crossing with a sidewind - we got pretty soaked! It was tiring work, even with Harry, who could paddle the kayak all day on his own, and by the time we reach the shore we're definitely ready to finish for the day.

That evening two guys motorcycling around the South Island turn up, and it turns out one of them is from Basingstoke, having moved over to NZ with his family ten years ago. A pretty cool coincidence; I didn't think to ask but I'm pretty sure not much would perusuade him to move back to the UK (particularly Basingstoke?) now

written by  LizIsHere on February 14, 2010 from Picton, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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Luckily I (and my shorts) made it, no thanks to the driver who was unsympathetic verging on the obnoxious. But still, made it! It's funny in retrospect!

We stop off a seal colony on the way out of Kaikoura - it was a breeding colony, with a raised platform from which you can look down on the tiny seal pups frolicking in rock pools and, in one case, chasing a seagull. They are unbelievably cute, and all the girls react in a chorus of 'ahhhhs', much to Carl the bus-driver's feigned disgust. Another quick stop at The Store at Kekereng for a breakfast of tasty muffins, seated at tables on a terrace looking out at the beautiful, deserted beach, and we're on the road again headed for Picton.

I get the usual half-serious mini-lecture from the bus-driver about not staying in Magic-affiliated hostels, but there is no way I would be changing where I'm staying here - Picton is the location of the hostel I've most been looking forward to staying at, The Juggler's Rest!

Luckily Carl drops me off at a hostel nearby to JR, and it's only a five minute walk along the residential streets to find it. The street it's on is backed by hills of bush, and the 140yr old villa can't be seen on the approach due to the ivy-covered fences surrounding it. I step through the open gate and it's better than I could have imagined. An old house with a wooden deck with sofas and chairs, a sunny courtyard in front, and a garden/tiny camping area half-encircling the building. There are hammocks strung between the trees, prayer flags hanging over the bbq area, and best of all, a large sign saying simply 'Poi' hanging over a green shelf crammed and hung with juggling clubs, poi, a basket of juggling balls, devil sticks and diablo. There are a few guys lounging on the deck area, and it all looks so bohemian and cosy that I immeadiately want to move in permanently!

Inside the hallway opens up into a large kitchen-lounge area with a wood-beamed ceiling; there is heavy dining table and chairs, sofas, easychairs, two giant beanbags, fire-staffs hanging on the wall, and signs all around advertising the veges available from the garden, the fresh-baked bread and homemade jam available for breakfast, recycling info, poi/juggling workshops, and a basket of eggs on the counter-top with a little jar to hold the 50c charge. There is an honesty-box of sorts for the internet and for donations for vege use - the owner Nikki shrugs off formal charging by saying that 'it's their karma whether they pay or not'. She is originally for Derbyshire, and bought the hostel after working there for two years. She's a fire poi spinner, and very cool and laid-back.

I love it - it feels like staying in a large, multi-national home rather than a hostel. When I go out and start attempting to juggle, Per, a Swedish guy working here for a few weeks, immeadiately helps me out, showing me a simple way to learn, though I'm still dropping the balls all over the place! In the evening everyone sits around in the kitchen-lounge, playing music on the stereo, cooking together, surfing the net, reading, or chilling out on the deck outside (swatting sandflies constantly!). I've booked two more nights, even though I know nothing about what else Picton has to offer but the QCT and the Queen Charlotte Sound kayaking trip I've booked for Sunday.

written by  LizIsHere on February 12, 2010 from Picton, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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The ten of us got fitted for wetsuits, fins and snorkel masks at the Seal Swim shop in central Kaikoura, then took a short bus trip out to another part of the peninsula to get the boat (driven by our guide and the company owner's dad, nicknamed Herbie). We got a short lowdown on the history of fur seals in the area: hunted almost to extinction point in the early 1900s due to their highly-prized fur, they were finally protected in the 1940s. Since then their numbers have flourished; an endangered animal rehabilitation success story.

Then we got out on the boat - it was a pretty rough ride! Sitting at the front clearly hadn't been a good idea as me and another girl got the full force of the waves splashing over the bow and the hard slap of the boat against the rough sea. One the way Herbie pointed out a tiny blue penguin bobbing along on the waves.

We stop the boat at an area of rocks a little offshore, stick on our masks and flippers and jump in. The water is cold, but nothing like the UK! At first we have little luck spotting seals in the water; they are mostly contentedly stretched out on the warm rocks sunny themselves. We spot only one under water and bob up just in time to see it leap out of the water and dive back in again. The Herbie signals that he has found some in the water around an outcrop of rock facing the open sea.

When we all swim round there we find 4 or 5 (it's hard to keep track, they move so fast) young seals in the water. The first time I see two of them dive and spin underwater is breathtaking ; they come so close, and are so graceful and swift - a huge contrast to their lumbering clumsiness onshore. The young ones seem curious - getting close enough for us to almost touch (though we've been warned not to), then spinning away, swimming underneath or around us, the whites of their large eyes glinting in the underwater gloom. Sometimes when the visibility is lower they would suddenly appear in front of you, then zip off leaving a trail of bubbles behind them. In the end we swim for about an hour with them before clambering back on the boat, everyone grinning and feeling high off the experience.

It was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced, made so much better by the fact that the seals were completely wild and did not need to be around us, or stick around in the water with us for so long.

written by  LizIsHere on February 11, 2010 from Kaikoura, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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When we'd almost reached Kaikoura, Lisa pulled over to rescue a group of Chinese tourists who's bus had overheated - the driver said they'd been stuck on the side of the road for two hours and no one had pulled over to help! Luckily they were headed to a whale-watching trip in Kaikoura, so we could take them straight there. After parting ways with them, we had a brief stop at the seal colony on the Kaikoura penisula, where the fur seals were basking out on the rocks right by walkways, apparently unaffected by the small crowd of tourists taking photos and pointing at them. We were soon driven back to the bus by the chilly weather and light rain, but still it's a taste of what I'll get tomorrow when I go on the Seal Swim!

Lisa was nice enough to drop me off near the Dolphin Lodge (Magic have contracts with certain hostels in each town they stop in, and won't generally drop travellers off at other places), but unfortunately that still left me at the bottom of a short but extremely steep hill! I made it though, out-of-breath and a little worried by my apparent lack of fitness.

The Dolphin Lodge is a cosy, homely place; a little run down and perhaps in need of more toilets and showers (and maybe slightly better security; my 4-share dorm was near the frontdoor which was open all day, and out of view of reception desk), but a great place to chill out and meet other people, with friendly (British) staff who were happy to bend the rules and help out in whatever way they could. The main room is an amalgamation of kitchen, lounge and dining area, with the reception area leading off it, with a staircase leading up to the quarters of the british couple of managed it behind the frontdesk. In the evenings people tend to congregate in this room (the dorms are a little sparse) and cook, eat, or lie on the sofas or chairs reading, talking, playing chess or planning their next days or week's adventures. I took a wander round the town, which is clearly and absolutely based upon marine-related activities - whale-watching, seal-swimming, dolphin watching-and-swimming, seabird watching etc - if you don't like marine-life it's not the best place to be, although there are some hikes up into hills and along the peninsula, and the stony beach itself.

After exploring a bit, I spent most of my first afternoon in Kaikoura at the kitchen table at Dolphin Lodge planning some things out, since a massive raincloud had settled over the town for the afternoon - it even blocked out the stunning mountain and sea view from the back deck, only revealing itself the next morning when the sky cleared.

written by  LizIsHere on February 10, 2010 from Kaikoura, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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I took the airport flyer bus to the centre of Christchurch, Cathedral Square which, unsurprisingly, has a cathedral in it. It's a pretty area ('pretty' may be overused in descriptions of Christchurch, along with quaint and 'quite English'), and functions as a lunch-spot, meeting place, skateboard park and general gathering place for entertainers (including a couple who can only be described as 'crusties'; the guy playing bongoes while his girlfriend juggled inexpertly) which gets busier towards lunchtime, and in the early evening. There's also a giant chess board, where small crowds gathered, fascinated, throughout the day to watch people play with the large plastic pieces. The tram stop is to one side of the square, and around the edge are the I-Site information centre, cafes and shops, and it's near the tramstop where I get off the bus.

It took about two minutes from reaching the corner of the square for me to get lost (I'm getting almost comfortable with getting lost... it's seems unnatural to arrive anywhere without having had to backtrack, peer at the map a few times, and possibly ask directions), but eventually I made it to the Around the World Backpackers, which is only about fifteen minutes (a looong fifteen minutes with a heavy bag!) from the Square itself. I went straight from dumping my bag there to Pak'N'Save, a twenty minute walk away. Pak'n'Save is the super-budget supermarket of NZ - the shelves filled with all kinds of discount goods, kind of like Macro or somewhere like that, but bigger - you feel tiny wandering round the towering aisles with an equally giant trolley. But it is very, very cheap.

The hostel was busy, mostly with long-termers (some had been living there 3 months!), who were working either at the hostel or at various jobs in town. This gave it a chilled out, homely atmosphere (they even had a cute, fluffy, very affectionate cat called Oreo), but also a slightly cliquey one. The kitchen was packed at dinner, but it was kind of hard to talk to people when they all knew each other. Still, my roommates were pretty nice, luckily, because the room was 'cosy' to say the least - made the more so by all 3 other girls being long-termers who had, understandably, unpacked and moved in properly.

One thing I did notice though, was that all the people I met at Around the World who had been travelling long-term (6months-2years!) were absolutely useless at listening; during every conversation you could just sense them waiting for their turn to speak. I don't know if it's something to do with them travelling on their own, or maybe they're just so excited about their adventures that they need to spill them all out without interruption, but it got a bit tiring, so in the end I just let them talk. Maybe I'll be the same when I've been travelling for a while (hopefully not).

I crashed out early and got up even earlier when one of the other girl's left for her job at the ANZ bank call-centre. First stop was the Cathedral, which was... cathedral-like. Pretty, though. Then I walked down Worcester St to the Botanic Garden, passing by some very cute and quaint houses on the way. Most of the main 'sites' are in the older part of town, characterised by the old colonial-style houses and grey-and-white stone buildings, which are quite 'English', but with a twist. The Botanic Gardens were a really nice spot to chill out for a couple of hours; a massive area of greenery with the river Avon flowing through it, carrying along ducks, tourists on punts and kayakers (i got slightly mugged by ducks when I decided to donate some bread to two who were nearby; cue ten others waddling up to me, quacking expectantly).
I also checked out the Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Puna O Waiwetu where there were some pretty good modern exhibits, including one on The Naked and The Nude (a helpful sign outside the door warned, "This exhibit contains, well, nakedness and nudity").
Near to the gallery was the Arts Centre, a collection of art galleries, craft shops, cafes and artists workshops in a pretty (...) maze of white-and-grey stone buildings with trees and squares dotted about.
After resisting the call of craft shopping, I headed back to the Cathedral Square to chill out for a bit, before going back to the hostel for dinner, repacking my already totally disorganised bag, and then crashing out, before creeping out at 7am to catch my Magic bus to Kaikoura.

And that was Christchurch, a very pretty city, but still a city. Everyone at the hostel told me that it's a great place to live but not so fantastic to pass through, which I can believe, since so many of them had stayed there so long.

written by  LizIsHere on February 9, 2010 from Christchurch, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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I've spent the last few days at the my other aunt's property, near Clevedon, Manukau City; in the countryside about an hour's drive from Auckland. I'm writing this from their front deck, looking out over their property, which is edged by native bush. It's a really nice spot, up in the hills above a valley, and possibly good pre-intro for any WWOOF-ing I might do here or in Oz (though the bugs will be bigger in Oz). Well, I've at least had a go at picking peaches,held a just-laid egg (the chicken was still doing it's "I've laid an egg - look at me" dance - either that or it was an "Oi! Who stole my egg?!" dance) and doing some extremely minor sheep herding (standing on a track flapping my arms slightly).

They keep eleven cows, twenty-something sheep, chickens, Muscovy ducks (which don't quack and have claws on their feet, making them quite a sinister proposition in duck terms) and guinea-fowl on their ~11 hectares. The cockerel here and the ones at the neighbouring property haven't quite got the hang of crowing at dawn; they like to keep some variety by choosing any time between 9pm-7am to make a racket! It's a pretty great way to wake up though; my first morning I was woken early first by the cockerel, then by some other birds joining in, and of course by the ever-present cicadas, which are even louder here than in the suburbs of Auckland - the sound varies from maracas-like rattle to a crazy loud fizz like sausages frying in hot oil. So, while it's peaceful here, with the lack of road or air traffic, it's definitely not silent.

Meeting the animals here was interesting, although apparently the sheep, which my aunt is very knowledgable about, have accepted me in the some way, because their leader Black Nose (who has his own facebook page!) actually took a few steps towards me when I went to their field. So at least I have one friend in NZ to start me off! There was also the Muscovy duck that was sitting on a nest of guineafowl eggs; the result of the eggs being abandoned by the original guineafowl. Unfortunatly the duck, being a lot bigger than a guineafowl, had crushed some of the chicks to death, but two had survived. An attempt was made to swap the duck for an extremely angry hen (aptly nicknamed Angry Hen), who had been nesting up near the house. But the experiment didn't work out when the hen started pecking at the chicks. Cue swapping by the now extremely annoyed duck back onto the nest, while Angry Hen was returned to her own eggs up by the house. Messing with nature gets complicated!

While here I also got to go on the bushwalk, which was great - clambering through undergrowth and pushing through massive dead fern fronds. I even got to see a possum which Rusty the Jack Russel sniffed out in a fern-top. Normally the possum would have been shot, but this time, since Bruce didn't have his gun, it was left - with Rusty still barking madly at the foot of the fern, ripping off chunks of foliage in a valiant but ultimately fruitless effort to demolish it and bring the possum down to his level so he could sort it out. Rusty remained in the bush for two hours after we left, haranging the possum - that's dedication for you.

written by  LizIsHere on February 7, 2010 from Manukau City, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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