Nelson

Marlborough Sounds to Nelson

The long and winding Queen Charlotte Road.

We got to Nelson pretty early. At about 11-ish? It is nice to see more people again. We were in time for the Saturday market, though we didn't exactly buy a lot. Some apples and pita chips with a pesto dip and a beetroot dip. The catheral looks uninspiring from the outside, but has gorgeous stained glass on the inside.

It is really nice to have the sun again. Nice beaches, nice little town, though it was really dead after 5pm. Worse on a Sunday where everything is closed. We stayed in this nice house, with a huge window overlooking the sea.

Sun set in Nelson

Marlborough Sounds

Marlborough Sounds and the Queen Charlotte Track

Staying in the sounds made me think about how far away we were from home (or everybody else). There are no roads to get to that part of the sounds, there were no shops to go to, just one food outlet in the lodge. Shane, the owner of the lodge has stayed in the sounds all his life. When he talked about the sounds, you know he loves the place. He takes pride in keeping the sounds as unchanged as possible. Sighing at the way the sounds have changed with so many rich men's holiday homes taking up so a good area of the sounds. He has 2 little girls, and everyday, he will ferry them to Picton to go to school and ferry them back again the in the afternoon. Fancy seeing dolphins on your way home from school!

I have never been in anyway more remote. Well, Picton is just a 10 minutes boat ride away, yet where we stayed for 2 nights, did felt really remote. It was a pleasant 2 nights, away from everyone else.

It rained for the 2 days that we were there. Cloudy and not a lot of sunlight. That had contributed to the sense of "remoteness" that I felt. I suppose, when it is sunny, people will be out swimming and kayaking, making the place feel a little more occupied. Not that I mind it so much that is was a little gloomy looking. I liked how the effect the weather had on the place.

View from the lodge

waiting for my ferry to bring me back to Picton

My ride

A lot of people who stay in the sounds have the Queen Charlotte Track in mind. To complete the entire 71km track, it will take about 3 or 4 days. Since we are not very fit and we are not really trampers, we just did a section of it. It took us an hour to walk out from the lodge to get to the track and then, 4 more hours to hike on the track. It was pretty stressful because we started late, and we have booked a water taxi to pick us up on the other side. So much for taking our time with getting up and having breakfast.... I can't imagine doing a few days of hiking. After 5 hours, we were really tired. The next morning, we had sores all over. We had intended to do a shorter walk, but the guy in the lodge advised us to walk a little longer. He said the views are fantastic. We were indeed rewarded with awesome views of the sounds! At times, the hike never seem to end, it felt great that we were able to made it, just with 10 minutes to spare before our boat arrived.

Marlborough Sounds

On the Queen Charlotte Track

At the jetty, finally.

Our shoes were soaked in mud. I just has to wash them. Our pants too!

Kaikoura Winery and the Amazing Coastal Drive

Kaikoura to Marlborough Sounds

A nice day at The Kaikoura Winery. The lady conducting the tour was very nice and friendly. She was generous with the tasting portions too! I think I had more than a glass on tasting portions alone.We like the winery so much, we stayed for lunch. It has some outdoor seating, but it was a little too chilly to be sitting outside. A pity since it has an amazing view of the ocean. We ordered a platter to share. It has some cheese, mussels, smoked salmon, sundried tomatoes, olives and prosciutto. The winery is small and it felt cozy. With a ferry to catch at 315pm, it was too bad we couldn't stay a little longer.

The drive to Picton very scenic. ( Come to think of it, the whole South Island is scenic) with breathtaking coastal views and dirty rally cars. If you don't think that rally cars are a sight for sore eyes, you should talk to my husband. There must be some kind of rally going on that day, we saw so many of those cars on the roads. Some were going pretty fast, maybe getting to get to the next stage.

The ferry to our lodge in Marlborough Sounds was late. Well, at least it came, and in some way it was a blessing in disguise. On our way to the lodge, we saw dolphins! The boat guy, also the owner of the lodge, stopped for a little while, for us city slickers to take a closer look. There were so many of them! It felt a little unreal being up so close. It was a little boat, standing at the edge, I was able to touch them if I wanted to. That was how close I was!

Kaikoura

It started to rain after breakfast, thought the whale watch would be called off. Luck was on our side and whales we did spot. Was pretty exciting the first time, since I was one of the first on the boat to spot the first whale. We saw 2 whales, and caught the tails of another 2. So pretty fruitful! There were plenty of Albatrosses too! Facinating creatures they are, they can sleep during flight! So cool isn't it?

The waters can be pretty choppy, though it looks deceptively calm on shore. We both popped a sea sick pill each before hopping on the boat. We felt a little queasy in the middle of it. Seem to hit The Husband harder than it did the wife!
A sea sick husband.

We have a picnic basket packed for us for lunch, unfortunately, we did not get good picnic weather. There was a very light drizzle. We had a quick one on a park bench and proceeded onto the Peninsula Walk. The entire walk will take about 4 hours, we just did half of it. I love the rain, walking in the rain was an extra bonus. It was a little chilly when the wind blew, but I love it. There was supposed to be a seal colony at the end of the the walk, we didn't see any, we could smell them though. Certainly didn't smell too nice there.

Day One

Christchurch to Kaikoura

On the way to Kaikoura.

Gore Bay

After a 10-hour flight, we got the key to our rented Focus and start to drive all the way to Kaikoura. The Husband will not feel tired when he gets to drive something fun. It was a 2 1/2 hours drive, but we took a lot longer. Turning into Gore Bay, stopped to have lunch, stopped to just take in the views.

It is nice to know that we have a nice room waiting for us in Kaikoura. It was great to have a hot shower followed by a hot soak in the huge tub after many hours on the road. I was dead beat come dinner time. After a fabulous first dinner in New Zealand, I went back to the room and fell asleep almost immediately.

Back

We had been on the road for like 2 weeks in NZ. Just got back yesterday. More updates later.

Pissed.

I do not understand why a close friend of mine is so blind to the fact that her so called boyfriend is making use of her. EVERYONE ELSE AROUND KNOWS IT!

It is easy for her to get someone better. She is smart, intelligent, very likeable and attractive. She is wasting her precious time on a fucking loser. I do not wish to see her get hurt again. She really deserves some kind of happiness. A more deserving man. I tried talking to her about it, our friends too. She gets defensive. We can only do so much.

It is hard to see her getting made use of. Very heart breaking.

I guess, love is really blind.