11-15-10 she devil!

We had a very lazy morning, slept in, took our time making breakfast and our coffee to the sound of logging trucks hauling ass down the mountain roads. After getting our hiking clothes on we set out to hike Mt. Thomas the sign says it should take 3hours, but you can never tell, we usually are faster, but after the last hike we were on pace with the time they posted.  We started the climb, and it was vertical through clear cut and thick bugs, ugh. Then we crossed a logging road and went up through perfect rows of a tree farm, the clear cut areas were the only views of the Canterberry plains below. We made the sumitt in 1 hour, and were fogged in.  The clouds move quickly so we waited and watched as they swept over the saddle below us. The view was not great, but it was nice to be high and away from the sandfly's from hell. We made it back to our van around 2:30pm, now what do we do? It was too hot to sit in the van with the windows rolled up, and we could not sit out side as the sandfly's will feast on us all day. So we headed into Rangiora to use the internet and Skype our family and Beth in hopes to see the little man.

We found a hot spot out side the library to Skype, and were able to get most of the AK clan at Tom and Cathy's house, and see baby Ethan Elliott! What a cutie, we had a nice chat with everyone and entertained Alise who was quite interested in the computer and was such a cutie running around with her gold locks and big smile! What a great day, we got to talk to our family's, got some exercise, and now hungry and sleepy we headed back to the camp site.

Not 5min down the road from the library, our van slipped out of gear, hmm…and would not go into any gear. Thank goodness to our left was a grocery store parking lot.  She had just enough in her make the turn into the lot, then she had no more. We pushed her into a spot, Paul tried to get her into gear, but she wanted no part of it. So it being close to 5pm we ran to find a mechanic, Paul ran across the street to a tire store, and I ran into the gas station that was in the parking lot we pulled into. We were both told to got to the same place across the street from us. Inside a nice mechanic Alec followed us to the she devil van to have a look.  Of course first time he started her up she went right into gear, but he got out and told Paul he should drive around the lot to make sure all is ok.  Once Paul got in she did not do anything just frozen in place.  Now Alec, just as perplex as we were told us to follow him back to the shop and he will find someone to work on her as he is more of an auto electrician and his shop only works on manual's, so he went through the phone book and made some calls to the automatic mechanics.  They were all closed, but he did know of a specialist that was just out of town that he could call, but it would have to be in the morning.  We asked him if our van would be safe in the parking lot, and if we would get in trouble for camping there for the night. He said we would be fine, and infact we were in the car park for a bus stop so other cars will be parked there overnight as well.  We thanked him and said we will see him in the morning. 

We decided that it was not a good idea to cook our dinner in the parking lot of the supermarket, and we thought a beer would do us both some good.  We went to the Blue Rooster for dinner, we arrived at 6pm but the cook would not be there for another 1/2 hour. No problem, since all we had to do was hang out in a parking lot, we opted for a beer and looked at the magazines that the restaurant provided. Lounging around the cook arrived and we ordered the burger and fry's! It was delicious, and we took our time enjoying it. 

We made it back to our home for the night, brushed our teeth and went to the restroom at the gas station and called it a night.  

11-14-10

We woke up to a very windy morning, and headed inland. We stopped in Rangiora before going to the DOC site.  It is a lovely town, we had some coffee and waited until 1pm for the library to open so we could use the free internet. We surfed the net and charged the computer and watched it drizzle outside.  We were very excited that Beth had her baby and he is healthy and of course cute as all get out! Around 4pm we headed to the DOC site, and of course the directions had a typo, but after only one uturn we found the spot anyway.  

We just about had the place to ourselves except for another van and a tent that were set up, but were very spread out since this site has 50 spots. We went for a short hour nature walk in the drizzle and scoped the place out.  This site is right next to a tree plantation so there is a logging road that runs by it, so we prepared for Monday and hearing some big trucks.

We made dinner in a hurry since the sandfly's were out in force, and then got in the van had a 1 hour session of killing the ones that made their way inside with us. Once the massacre was over we went to sleep, not long after we felt a tremor, our van shook for a few seconds then it stopped, I guess we are close to Christchurch!

11-13-10

It is getting hot at 8am! This time we know there will be no u turn back into the motor camp and this is our farewell to Kaikoura.  On on way out we did stop by the surf shop to pick up a sun hat for each of us after the yesterday's hike in full sun.  Paul did not like that he had to get one with no style, he really wanted a baseball cap that offered no protection to his neck or ears, but I told him that a goofy hat is better than skin cancer! We left feeling like tourists for the first time on our trip with sun hats on!  While meandering around town for a morning stroll we saw a Saturday market so we went to check it out.  This was not a very good market, it looked more like a garage sale with lots of people trying to sell used junk and dirty cloths out of the back of their cars, but we did come across one hidden gem of the market and picked up some jam called Blackboy peach (blackberry, boysenberry, and peach)made by "Preserved in time" it is so so so good!  After the market it was on the road, the road south heading to Christchurch was a pretty drive, we came into Cheviot a very small town with a sign pointing to the ocean that read "Gore Beach", and had the camping symbol on it.  Our original plan had been to head farther inland to a DOC site by Mt. Thomas, but this beach is said to be one of the safest in NZ so we turned our Serena a hard left and gassed it heading east to check it out.

Gore beach was so beautiful and had a small surfing community built around it, however it was a public holiday for the people of Christchurch and this beach must be a ht spot because it seemed the entire small town was packed full! Feeling a little disappointed we left Gore beach and continued our trek south looking for the turn off for our inland scenic route through Rangiora.

We came to Amberley another small town that had beach camping, feeling a little tired we hoped this campground would not be full. We followed the signs a short distance on their "highway" and came to the campground which was a large open field with nice bathroom and just a few family's around. We decided to stay, it was cheap and we had room to clean out our van and re-organize before our friends arrive on the 19th. I started to have a really bad stomach ache, and after an hour of me curled up in the van Paul drove us into town to get some tums or the NZ equivalent.  The tummy worked great and I started to feel better, I took a little walk around the park and when I came back Paul was in conversation with an older Kiwi.  The kiwi has lived in Christchurch his entire life, and had a lot to say about where to go and what to do even though it seemed the more he talked we had been to a fair amount more of the islands than he had.  This guy was not really interested in what Paul and I were doing or had to say and would just pretend he didn't hear a questions or remark and continue to ramble on and on. After listening to this guy for 20min. he finally left us alone and went back to his converted city bus motor home.  There seems to be a lot of converted motor homes as well as old kiwis that like to talk your ear off about things they know little about while pointing at maps.    

11-12-10 Summer is here

Woke up, made and ate breakfast, sipped our coffee while packing and preparing the car, packed up the chilly bin, headed to the store for a few last minute groceries and ice, filled up on gas and got on the internet to post the last blog and pics before hitting the road again.  While hanging out under the warm sunshine sipping drinks, looking at the mountains behind us and ocean in front we decided it would not be smart to leave and not stay another day in Kaikoura.  Change of plans, finish sipping coffee and posting, u turn, drive the half a block we had gone, checked back into the holiday park and unload our chilly bin into the park refrigerator…. start from the beginning again….

We decided yesterday was on the ocean so today we would get into the mountains and get some views from above.  We had heard of a hike up Mt. Fyffe which is the dominant peak on the skyline behind town.  We quickly changed made some lunch for the hike and headed that way.  After a short drive on asphalt we hit some country gravel road which of course consisted of the expected 1 lane bridges, river fords (this time dry, but full of nice big rocks and ruts) and dust… oh yeah this time we saw the random hippie on his bike who seamed to be upset we took the right of way on a one lane bridge  when the sign clearly gave it to us, damn hippies never read signs!  Finally we reached the trail head and headed out.

The hike climbed quickly which we both liked because the views came quick and we were out of the forest and in the sunshine within 10 minutes of hiking.  The hike then continued to climb steeply up the mountain and did not quit.  We climbed steadily up the steep grade while in full intense sunshine beating down on us for a solid hour and a half before reaching a DOC hut that offered some shade.  We were both hot and a little pinker than when we had started the hike,  the sunscreen we had put on had sweated off in the first couple minutes and we had both wrapped shirts over our heads to try and give some relief from the southern sunshine.  At the hut we chatted it up with a NZ couple who we had passed on the way up (they were staying the night so were loaded down with packs) and arrived shortly after us.  They were really fun to talk to, about our age and we all found good conversation discussing the intense sun, steep hike and some of our travels.  They also had just bought a new tent and were super excited to set it up while we all admired it and discussed the the features, size and so on, fellow gear junkies are always a good to run into, they just get it!   After a little conversation and lunch we decided to head for the summit, they took our info and gave us theirs and offered their house for a night or two (and their washing machine!) when we come through Christchurch next week, this invite I think we are going to follow up on…

We started to climb again and soon after Shabree's stomach started to hurt, we made it to the false summit and took a break. Shabree found a little spot of shade under some scrub brush and curled up. I went the 10 more min to the top. While hiking the last little bit I began to feel nauseous as well. I think it was a combination of intense sun, pb&j in the hot sun, and dehydration, thank god for the little snow patch I came across so I could cool down with a pile on my head.  The top was beautiful and the summit was higher than we had thought, we had climbed over 5000ft.  

Running down to meet up with Shabree, I ran into her higher up the trail, she had tried to climb but just felt very nauseated.  We walked down to the hut at a slow pace and when we arrived we filled up our water bottle and started to drink it down in the shade. Our kiwi friends asked us how the top was and how we felt. Shabree said she was feeling a little sick. Rebecca gave her more sunscreen, and a sugared ginger treat, and a hart shaped marshmallow, she said this would help take the nausea away. She also offered a variety of other remedies including two different types of pain killers, this chick was prepared!  She was very sweet and helpful, and when we were leaving she reminded us to call her when we are in Christchurch.

Within 10min of taking the sugared ginger Shabree felt better, and we were able to pick up the pace, at this point its about 4:45pm and we passed 9 people with full packs heading to the hut. We thought they were crazy since we passed them so close to the bottom, and some of them were already dying! At the van we decided we had to go to the Donagle house, that is not far from the car park. Rebecca our kiwi friend told us it is a great Irish bar and it's the closest thing to an Irish pub that you can finding NZ (she lived in Ireland for two years.) 

The Donagle house was very charming, the front door was painted with "Welcome and a thousand hello's" we walked in and each ordered a beer and took it outside on their huge deck in a nice shaded area.  We were very tired from our hike so we just zoned out and listened to the Irish music in the background and taking in  the big gardens and pond they had on the property, all of this while in the shade of course!  We left right after our beer's because people were ordering dinners around us and they looked so good, but we had left over chicken curry in the fridge at home (our motor camp.) 

By the time we pulled into our spot for the night Shabree was just about asleep and I was not far behind her. We took showers and ate dinner and were ready for bed, but since it was only 7pm we tried to stay awake! I think we will leave tomorrow and hit up a DOC site, even if it is another summer day outside but we'll see...

Kaikoura below, the bay where we swam with the dolphins to the right

see shabree?

summit

Thursday 11-11-10 Holy dolphin encounter!

It was an early morning for us to make our 8:30am departure time.  Our leisurely mornings of coffee and breakfast was rushed with anticipation.  We were pleased to see no marine layer, no breeze and intense sun all ready up for the day.    Paul was very excited, and I of course was as well but also a bit nervous.  We arrived at the headquarters about 15 minutes earlier and got our a small briefing before the wet suit fitting and we headed out. 

What is really neat about this tour is that they are wild dolphins, they do not feed them to keep them around they are here because there is a huge canyon along this beach that has an abundance of nutrient and marine life.  These dolphins travel in pods of 100 - 1000 and are just curious about those who are in the water and will come up to you to have a closer look.  After we were fitted for our wet suites, snorkel and fins, we watched a safety video and they remind us that they spot the dolphins but can not make them interact with us, so it is up to the swimmers to make a lot of noise through your snorkel and move around but not splashing or aggressive movements as this will scare them away, bottom line is to be the dolphin, check.

The dusky dolphin is 165cm to 195cm in New Zealand they are the most acrobatic and are often seen jumping out of the water doing flips and crazy spins.  We are told their are "slight seas" meaning the conditions are perfect and the 5:30am tour had a successful swim so they already knew where the pod was.  We were also told that there are quite a few baby dolphins out as well! I never thought I would see another baby dolphin like the one at Abel Tasman, but here was our opportunity and I had my camera ready.

We are only on the boat for about 10 min before we spot our first dolphins.  We are so excited, there at least 50 around our boat swimming around, and yes there were babies, everywhere! We took photos and video and nearly forgot that we could get in the water with them. Quickly getting our hoods and flippers on we went to the end of the boat waiting for the horn to tell us it was ok to get in the water.

On the back deck of the boat we and our fellow swimmers were looking into the crystal clear water in amazement at the dolphins right in front of us. The blow horn sounds, that was our que, and we slid into the water. It was cold but you quickly forget when a dolphin swims right by you! We stuck our faces down and watched as dolphins would swim underneath us, around us, beside us, looking at you like you are the  animal in the zoo. Everytime I saw one I wanted to yell "Paul, Paul, did you see him!" However, since my snorkel was in my mouth I resisted.  Paul had more interaction than I did, he would dive down just a little and do some spins, the dolphins really responded to this. As he would be spinning some dolphins would spin around him watching him! He even had a mama bring her baby a few feet down from his flippers and watch him for a moment before they swam off!  At one point I could not see much underwater so I looked up, and luckily Paul was close so I pulled him up to see 5 dolphins jumping high out of the water. There seemed to be two in competition like who could jump higher or spin faster! It was so cool to watch them play below and above the water swimming right by us then jumping out just a few feet away.

Our horned sounded again and it was time to get back in the boat to chase the pod.  On the boat is when we would see the most babies, the mom's did a good job of not bringing the cuties by the swimmers. Our second drop was not as successful as the first. The dolphins seem to be pretty spread out today so just a few came to check us out and the weird noises we were making from our snorkels. I looked up at Paul for just a second as a dolphin came within a couple inches of my left shoulder and did a swim by. You feel silly that they are all around you but you only see a few because they move so fast and are silent! Our horn sounded again and it was back on the boat to find more dolphins.

As we are waiting for our 3rd drop and are excited for having a third time in the water with them.  This drop I only saw one guy swim under me and no body else was having much luck. I was seeing a lot more above water jumping so I decided to stay on the boat after this drop. Back on the boat I take off my wet suit and get the camera ready to take pics of Paul on his 4th and 5th drops.  When the stupid camera tells me that I need to switch battery packs. Ugh! 

Paul's 4th swim did not have many dolphins either, but he did have an Albatross in the water and it took off from the water. Paul got to see at water level how they run on the water and flap there massive wings to get air borne! What a treat to have Royal Albatross the largest wing span of a bird on earth! Another one flew by the boat, it was massive! They look fake, like someone did a bad stuff job and put a strange beak on them, and then when you throw a family of dolphins swimming right by it looking at its feet you think this is crazy, where am I and what is going to happen next.

Paul's 5th swim was the perfect way to end the day. It was like the first swim, dolphin central.  At this point Paul's loud voice really paid off and the dolphin came to him and I was on the boat able to see from above as the dolphins were circling and checking him out!  I think I had more fun watching from above, so often a dolphin would be right by a person and they had no idea because they were facing the other direction.  Or they the dolphins would swim right through the group like a maze, but would swim with more of their body above water so the swimmers can't see them while looking down in the water.  One dolphin looked like he would touch Paul he was swimming so close to him in a circle around him! The dolphins if very interested would do two or three laps around a person within a few feet just checking them out before swimming off.  When Paul got back on the boat he said he could have touched a couple of them as they circled and checked him out and it was hard not to try to reach out to it.  It was also such a cool experience to see all this going down from the boat, thank god for the crystal clear water.  Looking in the eye of a wild animal that is very intelligent is a surreal experience.  Knowing you are both thinking about and curious about each other, and for us knowing we are not going to get eaten is a plus.  Then the horn sounded and Paul had to get back in the boat, sad to leave his new mates he got changed and we went to the bow of the boat and we watched them swim along side our boat as we made our way back to the dock, also spotted a seal and a couple more Albatross, how cool.

We showered and spent the rest of our day lounging by the pool of our motor camp, exhausted from the encounter and both reflecting on this amazing experience.  

Wednesday 11-10-10

We woke up to another perfect day. We are trying to remind ourselves that it is still spring and not summer, however when you wake up by the ocean in the warm sun while having coffee it's hard to imagine anything else.  After an hour of just sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in while sipping on coffee (Paul) and mochas' (Shabree) we started our drive to Kaikoura along the coast. For the most part it was flat and we cruzed along, but when we got closer to town we hit a huge fog bank or marine layer that just hung around and covered everything.  We could see a few breaks that revealed huge snow capped mountains and beautiful teal blue green ocean with seals lounging on the rocky shore.  The town while trapped in marine layer was still quite cute and we made our way to downtown's I site. The main drag comprised of gift shops and cafe's and lots of begging seagulls.

Kaikoura is supposed to one of the best places to swim with dolphins, whale watch, albatross watch, and anything that has to do with marine life they claim they can show you. We asked about swimming with the dolphins, Dolphin Encounter is the only tour in town and have a high success rate of not only seeing them but letting you swim with them. It was a bit pricey, so we decided to walk along the main drag and think about it.  We each got a milkshake and walked to the beach since the marine layer was lifting.  As we discussed one of us swimming and the other just viewing the fogged disappeared and revealed huge snow capped mountains as a back drop to a beautiful coastline! What a site, huge mountains and clear blue water, only in NZ! Feeling revitalized by the stunning views and a better day for tomorrow, we decided to both swim with the dolphins!

We stayed at a motor camp that felt more like a hotel, this place had a pool and spa! We laid by the pool for the rest of the afternoon under clear sky and the southern sunshine while looking at the mountains!  What a wonderful place, we decided to stay one more night after our dolphin encounter so we could shower and lounge! This is the life!

Tuesday 11-09-10

Not much happened since we left Cobb Valley, we stayed at Mc Kee camp ground for two days and hung around Nelson. We skyped our friends that will be here in a few days, then went to a movie! We saw RED which was the perfect movie for a cloudy day, some light hearted action, humor, and romance!   Also I still have a major crush on Bruce and Paul still has a remaining guy crush ever since the Die Hard's!

We started our drive to Kaikoura, the roads were pretty flat and straight we were shocked. Along the way we stopped at Pelorus bridge a scenic reserve.  They had nice bathroom facilities and a hike that was 4hr return to a look out.  We decided to see what this hike had to offer in views. We made it to the top in 35min the view was ok, but nothing to get to excited about. We were back in to our van in an hour, not a whole lot of views but a good workout for a road trip day. 

  We spotted a campground about an 1.5 hr from Kaikoura and decided to stay there for the night since it was a DOC and cheap.  It was right on a beach, this beach was rugged and surrounded by pasture land and a salt works factory where they take the tide water flowing into the lake and use the sun to evaporate the water and farm the salt.  It was pretty cool to see these 3-4 story piles of salt that they moved and loaded with front end loaders, lots of salt!  We found a perfect spot with some bushes to block the afternoon sea breeze and had a relaxing evening sitting out in the sun the falling asleep listening to the ocean.  

Sunday 11-7-10 Hiking Cobb Valley

We set the alarm for 6:30am, we wanted to get the hike in early and allow for plenty of day light if we did have to van troubles.  Luckily the tire still had air, and the weather was perfect. Under blue skies and in the warm morning sunshine both of us felt better about this place than the previous day, we signed the intentions log and set out for our hike.  

The trail was in great shape but pretty steep, we were in heavy beech forest for about an hour when we broke out of tree line to a gorgeous grassy meadows and ranges as far as you could see.  The hut was great and we wished we could have stayed in it, the lake was about 10min from the hut so we went to check it out.  The trail to the lake had a little snow on it and walking toward it the lake looked tiny and not really impressive.  Just further in over a small hill the lake opened up and was beautiful! The grassy meadows that were gold and reddish orange, snow capped peaks, and dark blue cold water, what a special place.  It reminded me of Twin Lakes out side of Baker City, just such a cool area and we were able to enjoy it on a perfectly calm morning in the sunshine.  We could have spent 3-4 days playing around this hut and exploring, but the huts have a two night maximum and we had a Skype meeting set up with our friends on Monday.  We had fun striking goofy poses for the camera, and decide to start heading out. 

Shabree stiff arm

The drive out seemed very different that the drive in, I was not on the cliff side which helped me, but gave Paul a sense of my horrific drive in,  I spent my time thinking of baby names to help out Martin and Katie and Beth and Brian who are having babies soon and the whole sketchy drive seemed a lot shorter.  I let out a big woo hoo once we made it to the T in the road to go to Motueka.  We arrived at Mc Kee camp ground feeling very exhausted from our hike and just a few hours of driving.  Driving here is so different, Paul could drive for hours back home and not feel fatigued, here after a few hours of very steep windy terrain it really wipes a person out.  There are bill boards all over the roads about fatigue and that drivers should pull over every few hours to rest. We defiantly get why.  It will be nice to chill and explore Nelson a little tomorrow before the Skype meeting then off to the east coast.

Sylvester Lake - Cobb Valley

Saturday 11-6-10

Another lazy morning, but instead of drizzle and clouds it was blue sky and sunshine.  We decided to do some laundry and let it dry in the sun and not in our van. Most of our day was enjoying the sun watching our clothes dry.  Not a bad way to spend the day. Around 3 or so we figured we best leave the motor camp before we had to pay for one more night.  Our plan was to go to Motueka and stay at Mc Kee campground.  However, Paul kept replaying the conversation with the Back to Bush lady about Cobb Valley just outside of Takaka. Cobb Valley Rd takes you to Cobb resivour in the mountains and has great access to Kahurangi N. P. including several different tramps into huts and lots of day hikes to get into the park.  When we got to the T in the road (left to Motueka and right to Cobb Valley) we stopped.  Looking at our map it showed half the road sealed and the other half showed the yellow (unsealed) road with the 4x4 icon on it.  Naturally realizing that our mini van bottoms out on a pine cone and is no 4x4, I said, "we might not want to try it".  Paul recalling the conversation with the kiwi's perfectly said it was a farm road really and we should just check it out, there was a hut at the end of the road that we could stay in.  We turned right, not yet knowing the road horror's we would face!

The road did go by some pasture land, and quickly started to follow the Cobb river through a steep rocky canyon then it began to climb.  This section was sealed but one lane, and there was a huge recent slip so 15ft of it was gravel. Then it got even narrower and higher, you could look ahead and see no land under the river side of the road you were about to drive over, all this while hugging the mountain in an constant S shape as it is slipping into the river. I felt like we were just about to our destination when we reached the small hydro station going over a rickety one lane bridge, and reading a large sign "Proceed at your own risk" these kiwi's…

We proceed on the 4x4 section of this very steep gravel road.  While it had been recently graded it was still very narrow and hairpin turns up this mountain, I don't know what we would have done if a vehicle was coming the other direction, there were not very many "pull outs or shoulders" so to speak on the way.  It seemed like we have been driving for 3hr on this road, but it had only been about an hour, at every large turn up I kept hoping that we would come to the end, but we just kept climbing.  Finally we came to the top of the saddle.  No hut? hmmm, you mean this is not the end of the road?!

We stopped the van and looked at the nice map and information shelter, this place is popular with locals that have 4x4's. Just when i get back to the van to grab my jacket I hear something boiling. Crap, our van has overheated! Ugh…At this point I have been terrorized for about an hour with our drive, now i realize that we have more driving to do, but can not do it until our girl cools down (and i don't mean me!) Paul sensing my frustration gives me a hug and tells me everything is ok and we can drive back out tonight since we have a few more hours of day light. We had a nice conversation about how our van is our home for now and we can't afford new tires or mechanic bills if we drive her on roads that she is not suited for since we do not have jobs.  Agreeing that this will be our last 4x4 journey with her we split a Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich and wait for her to finnish cooling off.  Just then an beater car with two grizzly Adams looking kiwi's roll up to sign the intentions book (a log book to inform DOC about your plans so if you don't return they know were to start looking.) They asked if we needed help with our van, we said no and Paul asked them about the tramps in the area.  Now that Paul's interest is sparked again, I brace myself knowing that our plans have changed and any hope I had for getting out of this valley with our van intact are out the window.

"Babe, I talked to those guys and we only have a short drive down to the hut or this car park, and there is this cool hike to an alpine lake".  Gaging by my one eyebrow raise he continues with some logic. "It is getting late and there is a pay phone down at the damn settlement, so if the van does have a problem we could actually call for help, and we did just drive all the way out here, it would be a shame not to at least stay the night for free and get in a hike, don't ya think?"

Im still not sure how I agreed to forge ahead, but I could see how excited Paul was on the area and he is so dang cute to say no to.  The steep drive down was only about 15min and at the bottom were homes I guess for the dam workers. We could either stay at the hut that was still about 10 min away and I'm not even sure if it really is at the end of the road, or go to the car park that was 3min away. I voted for the car park to let our van rest for the night and lessen our chances for a flat.  The driveway up to the car park was the short but crazy, huge ruts with sharp rocks. Paul did some great maneuvering and got us to the top.  There was a Ford Focus parked there  and a small kiosk with another intentions book. Having a look at the book we see the couple that have the Ford are staying in the Sylvester hut, it's about a 2.5 hr pack in.  We set up camp at the car park and planned to do the hike in the morning.

While heating up some left over tacos we are joined by a brave Weka. We heard them in the bush for about and hour, but one finally decided he was hungry enough and we did not seem threatening.  We spent the last 10min of our dinner shooing the Weka away, little bugger would eat right off our plate if we'd let him.  Seeing the other two in his posse we decided to leave dishes for tomorrow night since we did not need them till then. Paul kept looking at our front right tire, it was looking a bit low, so we went to bed hoping it would still be full in the morning.  

Friday 11-5-10

Slept in and enjoyed a jog along the beach of the motor camp, the tide was out and we saw lots of whole shells not all the broken shells we see on the Oregon coast.  We did not have a check out time so we showered again felt lazy and decided to stay one more night.  

Fireworks were going off tonight and we had no idea why (there are very strict fire bans here.)  It turns out that the 5th of Nov is the date some guy try to blow up English parliament in the 1500's yet they celebrate it here, but no one had a good answer for why.

Thursday 11-4-10

The morning was cloudy and we made it through breakfast and did our dishes before the rain started. We held up in the van for 15 min and the rain stopped. We drove to the front park entrance and set out on our hike with our rain gear packed hoping it would not start up again.  It was great to go back to this part of NZ and be amazed at it's beauty, walking from one beach to another without another person around, this time of year is a little cool for swimming but the park ranger told us all of the 800 camping spots are full in about a month, can not imagine what a zoo this place is then!  The hike was incredible and we actually got some sun breaks and incredible views, we headed back after a few hours, and right when we reached our van the rain's came back.  This time the rain did not stop for the rest of the day!  

Shabs loves shirts tucked into workout pants!

Yes, Paul's shirt is tucked in and he is not wearing a belt! Tacky!

Yes, this is real and impressive!

We drove out of the park before the dirt roads slipped into the ocean, and drove to a motor camp for our first shower in 5 days and a nice kitchen and Lounge/TV room to hang out in while it POURED outside!   Really nice to get clean, relax and catch up on email, blog, etc...

Wednesday 11-3-10

Woke and made some coffee, Shabree was finishing packing up some things while I went outside to warm up in the little bit of sunlight poking through the trees.  As I am standing there a figure appears on the trail coming out of the woods and says, "Hello Paul, how are you?", WTF, I am thinking who is this and I just stand there not saying a thing trying to figure it out.  As he gets closer it is our hut warden Mike from the night before who had hiked out, turns out he had to come check on a bridge or something and was in the area, knew we were staying at Browns Hut and offered us a ride back into town to our car, what a guy!  We both quickly packed the rest of our gear and jumped in our free ride back to town. 

Mike is very nice and he made our trip back to Collingwood memorable…There was a cat along the side of the road Mike says "I think that's a wild cat" and he starts to turn the car around, we figure he is going to run it over since the cats kill native birds. We are surprised when he says "If you don't mind I would like to go to this store, it has been closed every time and is quite historic" sure we said.  The store has been there for 82 years, and is a general store/antique store, grandma Palmer would love it! After browsing Shabree could no longer curb her chocolate craving so she got a chocolate and peanut bar, I got a Lea and Pepper(NZ'z most popular soda), and Mike got an Ice cream bar, we picked up Mike's ice cream bar, it was the least we could do for the ride.  The owner of the store tells us about this beach that we should check out since the weather is fantastic, it's called Wharariki beach, sounds great and we say goodbye.  Shabree starts saying how chocolate sure is good after along hike, Mike agrees and asks if we have been to the chocolate shop in Collingwood, no we say as Shabree's eyes get bigger! . Collingwood is a tiny town with a hostile, motor park and bar, nothing but the basics from what we had seen.

After great conversation with Mike on his future plans of coaching rugby over seas in Europe and wanting to get back into building homes we reached Collingwood.  We tell him to take a right to our car, but he keeps driving and says "I want to show you that chocolate shop, do you mind?", "of course not!" we reply.  The chocolate shop is called Rosy's Glow and is tiny in an old victorian style home, pink paint and old school wall paper from floot to ceiling with crown molding and 12 foot ceilings, really cute place and best of all was its two cases full of fresh treats. There is a big selection, Shabs gets chocolate and Caramel, Mike gets the same and a lime sour covered in chocolate, I get a turtle (chocolate, caramel, and walnuts). Very good, but very rich. Mike shares his lime sour with us and offers his spare room for us to stay. We did not want to take advantage of the guy so we told him thanks, but we are going to a DOC site tonight. At our car we exchanged information and see him on his way. 

With our sunglasses on we head due west to this beach, the road is of course ridiculous with signs that read "4 one way bridges" all in a row, and mostly gravel. How ideal, we must have passed over 15 one lane bridges on the way and of course the bridges are curved so whether you have the right of way or not makes no difference because usually you have no clue if someone is on the other side, just slow and cautious with fingers crossed.  The end of the road takes us to a parking lot in steep rolling hills of pasture land and a motor camp, we park our car and start walking through the pasture in our flip flops trying to avoid all of the sheep poo. It was a first for the both of us to access a beach through a sheep farm, but soon enough we see the effort was worth it. The dunes are big, the water is blue and there are big rocks jetting out of the ocean with seals napping on them, and best of all there were hardly and people the beach.  

just as we hit the beach from the pasture land

The sand is so fine it looks like powder sugar and is a very different color than the gold beaches of the Abel Tasman even though we are only about 20 kilometers north. There are arches and caves to explore for as far as we can see, with big stone cliffs and these crazy rocks that looked like concrete had been poured around a bunch of 2-3" round river rock and was slowly eroding away leaving just the rocks sticking out but firmly in place.  We eat our lunch and soaked in the sunshine for a bit, before heading to check out an arch we had seen.  The rocks are made up of sea life, barnacles, muscles, squishy things that stick to the rocks. Shabree loves to look and poke at things so and explore the tittle pools which were teaming with little organisms so she was happy.   The scenery was so cool, and just looked fake.  After a couple hours of exploring we were both exhausted and ready to find a place to sleep for the night.

Paul under an Arch

So pretty

shabree playing in the tide pools

We headed back south toward our other favorite beach the Abel Tasman.  We wanted to hike the top part of the park that was not part of the great walk, but we had heard was different and very beautiful.  We heard it might rain tomorrow so we went to sleep hoping it is only a drizzle.

Tuesday 11-2-10

We woke to all the yahoos fumbling about the hut and we both decided to wake up slow and stay in our bunk until most of the people had cooked and eaten breakfast and were out of our way.  Hearing the conversations though made me anxious as everyone was commenting on how beautiful it was outside.  After pulling ourselves out of the warm down bag into the cold mountain air we were both excited to see nothing but blue sky, big mountains and sunshine!  We ate a good breakfast and prepared to climb Mt. Perry for a 360 deg view of our surroundings.  The mountain hike got us about 1200 feet above where the hut sat and provided incredible views of numerous peaks, the downs, the Tasman Sea, Golden Bay, the valley we had hiked up and everything in-between.  It was a perfect view point and with not a cloud in the sky, we sat up there for about 45 minutes just soaking it in.  We then headed down to get going on our hike out to Brown River Hut. 

you can see the hut we stayed in the night before in the saddle below

Same type of "Down" grasses

As we started out trek down the mountain a helicopter came up the valley and landed right beside the hut, must be hut supplies we thought.  Mike our hut warden from the night before had packed out that morning and we figured this was his replacement.  When we reached the hut  there was no hut warden but we figured he would be up in his own hut, there were however two Australian women sitting there who were part of a large group heading up and in a round a bout way made it seem like they had scooted up the trail in about 2 hours and asked us to tell their friends they'd be making the beds for them.  We were both impressed, these ladies are animals, they flew up that trail! We chatted for a second then grabbed our packs and headed down.  

The way down was fast going but we both felt the 20 kms from the day before and the mountain we'd just hiked.  We whistled and whistled at the parrot area and think we may have heard them but they were not interested today and did not show themselves.  After a couple of hours we heard quads in the distance and came upon Ivan the new hut warden and his boss on quads heading up the trail… wait a second, "weren't you in the helicopter?!?!" nope turns out the helicopter had been hired by the Aussies because the had blisters from doing the Abel Tasman…. Posers!  After another hour or so we came across the other 7 Aussies hiking up to the hut, the tough ones!  

Got to Browns River Hut about 4pm set up the tent without the rain fly and both lounged around snoozing and reading for the rest of the afternoon.  The sandflies were all over the outside of the tent, it was a little bit scary how many and how persistent these guys are.  Browns Hut was great to sleep in, it only had a fire place so it was cold but there was no wind or rats under the floor and we both slept well.

Monday 11-1-10

Woke up early and after packing and a good breakfast of everything left in our cooler we headed to Somerset Hostile for the owner Chris to give us a ride to the trailhead.  Once there we loaded our packs into Chris's Mitsubishi Montero and headed down the 30km gravel road all the while getting question after question from Chris on American politics and just bizarre stuff; "Is Obama a muslum?", "Some say he is secretly plotting with Islamic militants?", "whats wrong with everyone having health care?", etc, etc.   After that Chris explained the NZ government very quietly, we could understand about half of it, and explained how he left the UK because their gov was terrible.  At one point he took us down a side road for a couple minutes (neither of us knew we were going in the wrong direction) out to the random bridge in the middle of no were an explained how it was a prime example of the problems with big government… bridge to nowhere maybe, not really sure?  Neither of us could quite pick up what he was saying, he then quickly did a u-turn and headed back the right way.  He also explained at one point just after we had driven down into a steep gully forded a river which he "sometime wont cross" because it is too dangerous, that we could had have just driven our van out here if we were heading back down the same way.  There is no chance the van would have made it down that road but we both just nodded, yea, yea!  Anyways after about an hour drive up the valley we got the trailhead.

The hike was uneventful for the first couple hours, we hiked steadily up through typical NZ forest complete with fern trees and different types of pod carp and beech trees.  After about 3 hours of hiking we came to a shelter along the trail and stopped for lunch.  It was a beautiful spot, the sun was out and there was a nice lady Pam from Palmerston North there, very rough around the edges with a kinda deep voice, rough personality and looks, she reminded us of what Calamity Jane must have looked/acted like, she was very nice though.  After about a half hour of sunning and eating Pam's friend Peter showed up, we had passed him on the trail earlier, and we struck up a good conversation with them.  At one point there was a loud bird noise that we had not heard before and Pam mentioned she thought it was a parrot.  After a good lunch we set out again.

About 5 minutes up the trail from lunch I saw some shadows flying in the trees and wondered what it was that seemed to be flying along beside us, maybe even following us.  Next thing a green and red bird fly's right by me about 20 feet out and lands just infront of where Shabree is on the trail, we both were shocked and realized it is a parrot.  We stop and check it out while it (Shabree named him Polly) is doing the same to us, next thing you know the Polly's buddy shows up (we'll call her Ariel) and they are both checking us out.  I start whistling at Paully while Ariel is over on the branch cleaning herself and pretending not to be interested, Polly looks confused for a minute then to both of our (me and Shabree's, not me and Ariel's) surprise Polly starts talking back, answering my lame whistles with a perfect mimic of my tune followed by a string of ultra complex noises I could never make, and he knew it!  It was SO cool.  We sat there filming him, talking back and forth for a couple minutes till they both got bored and flew off.  It was so amazing to see something like that in the wild.

The last part of our hike after the parrots went quick, after about an hour of more steady uphill hiking we reached Perry Saddle Hut just as the fog was setting in.  As we rolled up all the sleeping pads from inside were outside laying all around the hut, we came in the door and the hut warden Mike was busy cleaning.  He explained how it had just been sunny and clear a couple minutes ago and had washed the pads and laid them out to dry, he then put on hot water for us and started the fire in the wood stove as we helped bring in the pads from the misting fog, this guy was alright!  We sat around and talked to Mike for an hour or so then Pam and her crew showed up.  We all conversed for a while then Shabree and I headed down for a little hike to check out the "downs" since we were not doing the full tramp as most of these people would be hiking through them the entire next day.  As we we were heading out and alone we both could not stop laughing at the conversation between all the kiwi's we had just heard, as kiwi's tell stories they fill in the gaps with "yea, yea", kinda like yeah but with emphasis on the e(really hard), not the a.  Also when kiwi's are listening to stories they let you know by giving a deeply contemplating look with "yea, yea, yea" every couple of sentences.  It was so fun to listen the the whole hut conversing with "ummmm, yea, yea" and "yea, yea" being the majority of the words spoken, we decided we are buying a mini recorder!

The downs are an alpine grassland with all these crazy plants that don't grow anywhere else and a major part of what this tramp is known for.   The fog had set in heavy by the time we made the downs but the landscape with its white rock, and brightly colored plants was really cool, it seamed to glow in the fog and mist. We were both exhausted by now after having packed in for 4 hours uphill and gone on another 1 hour hike so decided to head back for dinner.  

Arriving at the hut we found a whole guided group had arrived.  The guided crew was run by MaryAnn who was on top of her game, cooking sausages, vegetables and potatoes for dinner and she knew everything about the plants and animals on our trip, her son, a worker who had helped carry up food and some random kiwi's and one transvestite guy from Australia who was a jerk.  Turns out talking to Mike the hut warden and MaryAnne the parrots we saw are the Kaka and are endangered mountain parrots related the the common Kea's which we have not seen yet but are common further south.  It was a cozy night with an almost full cabin but we had a top set of bunks to ourselves and we slept well.

In the middle of the night I had to pee and as I went outside the mountain sky way totally clear without he southern constellations so bright above, I thought, "no way, is this a sign of what tomorrow will be… chill out go to sleep, don't jinx yourself"…zzzzzzzz

Sunday 10-31-10

We went to the I site in Motueka and booked the Heaphy tramp really looking forward to getting into the Kahurangi National Park. Before we left town we stopped by Royal Patisserie to have a pie. The pies were so good, so we also got a sausage roll and decided to try something sweet so indulged in an apple turnover! I will be thinking of the pie for days! With full bellies headed to Collingwood in Golden Bay, the drive was extremely steep over Mt. Takaka! As we drop into a beautiful valley we come across the town of Takaka, it is super cute and the biggest town on this side of the mountain.  By the time we reached Takaka Valley we were pooped and blood sugar was probably below healthy levels so we stopped for Ice cream at the first creamery we could find.  Having already polished off pies, sausage rolls and an apple turnover we decided to abstain and only asked for one scoop, little did we know the girl serving understood what a true scoop of iceream is!  She gave us about 3 scoops of ice-cream each all rolled into one scoop, we are stopping by there on the way back for sure..

Feeling large and in charge we pulled into town with the wind howling out of the east and found the only motorcamp that was open and got our spot.  The camp was the worst we have stayed at. The facilities are rundown and dirty, we did not even use the showers.  For a large camp the kithcen was very small, I was making dinner and was crowded out by a few french chicks that were not very friendly (or maybe they just did not speak english well).  The internet sucked and was so slow even checking email was a chore.  After only seeing senior citizens, other than rude french chicks, around and all of them wearing rain boots with shorts and talking really loud we decided this is a camp for retired drunk fisherman and were glad we'd be out there in the morning.

After dinner and back in the van Paul was working out the logistics about the bus schedules and costs before bed. After a checking some web site and making a few calls Paul discovers this hike is a logistical nightmare and very expensive! 

1 Bus from trail end to Karamoa - No bus out of Karamea till morning, have to spend the night so that is an extra cost, plus dinner

2 Bus from Karamoa to Westport leaves at 9:15am  for a 1.5 hour drive into Westport.

3 Wait in Westport the shadiest town in NZ till 3:30 pm for the bus to leave for Nelson.

4 After leaving Westport the bus arrives in Nelson at 6:30pm meaning,  spend the night in Nelson.

5 Leave Nelson at 6:30am on the first bus out and arrive back at car in Collingwood at 10:15am, whew!

We kicked around our options a little and decided we'd just go in the first night to the hut we had reserved, play around in the mountains the next day and head down to stay at the hut at the start of the trail saving us $300 in bus fares and 3 days of travel.  We'd still see the mountains, get some packing in, use our already paid for hut and end up $40 dollars and one shuttle ride from the car rather than 300 Kilometers, 2 nights and a load of cash away, it was not a hard decision!  

Saturday 10-30-10

Today was another cloudy day and we had seen on the news that everywhere on both islands was supposed to be super nice for the next week except where we were heading so we decided it was the perfect time to head west again and do the Heaphy Tramp.  We packed up, ate some breakfast, listened to David for another 2 hours while trying to get ready to go, then finally headed out.  One of us would just walk out on him and take something to the van or take the trash and return to find David still just talking away.  David and his partner Dawn gave us their number and address and invited us to stay with them when we are on the north island by Taupo, very nice gesture but I think both of us might go crazy.

As we headed west back up Lewis pass the clouds slowly cleared the farther west we drove and just about at the pass there was not a cloud in the sky, it was beautiful.  We decided to do a walk right at the top of the pass called "the tops".  We went for about half an hour through bush making our way up and got to a ridge that was bare and offered amazing views of the valley and surrounding mountains.   The trail went quickly back into bush and a forest of really large trees.  This forest got really difficult to navigate, there was a bunch of fallen trees (either wind or snow kills) and we had a lot of trouble just finding the trail along with our way around/over/under/through all of the felled trees.  After wondering around through felled trees and finding then loosing the trail over and over again for another 45 minutes we decided to give up on this trail and head back to the car since we still had a good amount of driving to complete to make it to Nelson. 

At the van we got some lunch stuff out for easy access, jumped in, turned the key and…. nothing.  We got the battery out and hooked up the cables, still very little juice and not enough to turn it over.  A NZ guy who was gearing up with full on mountaineering gear, he was going to try and summit a 2200 meter mountain down the pass, stopped and tried to give us a jump which also did not work.  We decided we needed to take out the old battery and put in the new, but with no tools and both of us unable to find our leather man's this was not an option.  I played around with the leads again really yanking on them and twisting, they turned a little so I went and tried to start her up and like magic we were on the road again. Damn leads we just tightened them a month ago.

Got into Nelson around 6pm, went straight to the Mitre 10 store and bought some tools so we could at least try and do something if we ever have problems again.  We then returned to Mc Kee campsite on the Tasman Bay and began our inside and out search for the leather man's that it turns out I had hidden a little too well before our Klondike walk the other day.  Feeling relieved we ate some dinner, read a little and went to bed.

Friday 10-29-10 No Naked Hippies in the pools, thank god!

We woke up to a drizzly morning. We had planned for a hike, but in rain and clouds it did not sound very fun. Paul did not feel like driving, so we booked another night at the motor camp. Hanmer Springs reminds me of Black Butte and Sun River, there are lots of things to rent and take on trails, golf, and do extreme things like bungy jump.  The town is surrounded by mountains and has the resort kind of feel. None of the available activities really appealed to us in this weather so we opted for the hot springs! The Hanmer hot springs are great, the facility is clean, there are 8 pools and a large pool with slides for kids. All of the pools are out side, so today was ideal to use them. Each pool has a sign that tells you the temperature, Paul and I first went into the 36 celcius, this felt a bit like warm bath water so we went searching for something warmer.  We found it and spent a lot of our time in the 40 celcius pool most of the time with no one else around. The 40 deg pool was much hotter and so relaxing with the drizzle coming down it allowed us to stay very comfortable! Paul stood out like a sore thumb in his knee length board shorts in bright colors, every other guy had black or blue mid thigh length shorts on just like the rugby players.  One guy did have a speedo and he pranced around like he was the bee's knees (little did he know he looked ridiculous). We stayed for about 2.5 hours switching between cooling off outside the pools, to soaking in the super hot 40 deg tub then to lounging in the 37 deg pool, it was a perfect rotation.

After our soak we decided it had been such a tough day we'd go out to eat.  Got some good NZ food, fish and chips, seafood soup and potato wedges.  The potato wedges turned out to be a bit much, they were piled in bacon and cheese then drenched in aioli sauce then on top had a big pile of this sour cream / mayonnaise stuff.

With full bellies  and still in relax mode from the hot springs we went back tot he park, washed cloths, read and hung out while our cloths dried hung all over the kitchen/living area.  Around dinner time a nice older couple came in and started up conversation.  It was really nice at first, they were from the north island and had driven down to Christchurch for a funeral and were interested in telling us stories of old NZ and asking about our plans.  As the night grew later and we continued to converse with these two it slowly became mainly listening to David tell story after story that were all generated from the first story and would go on and on and end completely different then where the story began, he would then remember where he was trying to go, start over and end up on a whole different story again not to the original point.  We finally got out of the past 11 pm with our ears ringing from David's rambling.  Exhausted we slept like babies.