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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The Aquapackers is small, with only 16 beds, which, apart from the one double cabin, are the original tiny crew bunks: six of them are crammed into one of the lower-cabin areas where me and Lisa slept. It's a cosy arrangement, meaning you have to stay on fairly good terms with your roommates! - i can't imagine sleeping there night after night and living in such a tiny space, as the original catamaran crew must have done! There's a kitchen area, sofas, a table, and a dining area on the upper deck with an honesty bar. The other guests are mostly german and italians, with one honeymooning Engish/Kiwi couple.

It was so hot that I grabbed my swimming stuff (relegated to the bottom of my backpack one the rain started in the morning) and jumped off the boat into the cold clear sea. Then it seemed about time for a glass of wine and some sunbathing on the deck before the two-man crew served dinner, spicy veggie pie, salad and bbq. It was probably the most 'pampering' I'll get on my whole trip, so I figured I'd enjoy it! The day ends with some of us sitting at the back of the boat, watching the sun drop behind the mountains, lulled by the lapping of the sea against the hull. Ahh....

The next day's walk was easier, with bright blue skies and hot sun. Lisa and I walked the last bit of the track together, stopping at a bay for lunch, before finishing with a absurdly easy (someone was actually pushing a pushchair along it!) track into Marahau.

written by  LizIsHere on February 19, 2010 from Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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The Takaka valley is flat as a pancake, and as such you can see the weather coming in from miles away over the mountain tops. Apparently it's much wetter than the Nelson region because of this, but I saw no evidence of that! I'm staying at Annie's Nirvana Lodge, which while it doesn't perhaps bring a nirvana-like state, has a wonderful sun-trap garden, cosily-worn style inside, and some very cool and friendly staff and long-termers staying (plus the slightly mad owner, Alan, who seems to laugh all the time). And cheap bikes! The first thing I do is grab a bike and cycle the 6km to the Pupu Springs, a large area of springs set in regenerating bush: one of the clearest springs in the world. You can see the water bubbling up in the clear pools, and watch the 'Dancing Sands' as the bubbling of water sets the sand moving below the surface. It's a peaceful, tranquil area, despite the relatively large number of tourists there. It's all I can do not to dive into the pools (the springs are closed to prevent evil algae infiltrating their purity) after a hot, sweaty ride from Takaka, culminating in a hill at the end. To my embarrassment, i meet two old Dutch ladies who have also cycled from town; they didn't seem the types to push their bikes up the hill like I did! On the way back I stop at the Takaka river, where a few campers are parked up (including one decked out to look like a wooden house on wheels), and paddle in the clear water and chill out in the sun for a while.

Takaka is a one-street sort of town, with a kooky, hippie vibe - one of the first people i see is a girl in long skirts, wearing beads, leaning against a painted-up van holding a bunch of flowers. These aren't weekend hippies, these are the real deal, selling their wares in the little green areas that pepper the main street, spinning staff, and setting up slack-lines in the park.

That night I go out with the a Japanese guy, Shingo, and an Austrian girl, Tumasha, who work at the hostel, and an old guy Kiwi guy called Dave, who lives in a bus out the back. It's a dub/reggae night at the local Roots bar, they have four-berry cider, and it's a lot of fun - the music is good and the dancing is ace! I have to call it a night at 1am though since I'm shattered from the early start (and that gruelling bike ride of course, ahem).

written by  LizIsHere on February 20, 2010 from Takaka, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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Within minutes of arriving I've agreed to rent the hostel's car with a Finnish girl (Satu - though I don't even know her name at this point!), to drive to a legendarily gorgeous beach, Wharakiki (sp?) beach, and the Farewell Spit, the next day. Then about twenty minutes later we meet two American guys, Jonathan and Travis, who have just come up from working 5 months in Antarctica, shifting cargo at the American base there, who we invite to join us. I, fortunately or unfortunately, get volunteered to drive, since I'm the only one who's used to the left side of the road! They may not know what they've signed up for...!!!

In the evening, after a day of exploring the beach, paddling in the warm waters and, most important, discovering Rosie's Chocolate Shop, Chris the hostel owner offers to take all of us at the hostel on a little walk to see some glowworms. No paying cave entry fees for us! We walk up the road behind the hostel and there they are, glowworms just hanging on the trees and in the bushes! It's very cool and I suppose a little eerie - there are the stars in the sky (the milky way clear as anything) and then the glowworms like greenish stars in the bushes. When a car comes Chris urges us all to turn to the hedge and shut our eyes to protect our night vision - we must have looked pretty entertaning to the driver, twenty people huddled by the side of road, eyes tight shut, faces in the hedge!

written by  LizIsHere on February 22, 2010 from Collingwood, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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