Happy Holidays at the Beach

Once we arrived in the South Island, we knew we only had a few weeks before our friend Bob joins us, so we couldn’t get too lost. We decided to visit the North West coast including the Abel Tasman National Park. On our way through more windy roads, we stopped to view Harwood’s Hole, a gigantic cave (hole in the ground) that was used in The Lord of the Rings; although we’re not sure what scene. The hole was huge and really intimidating. We couldn’t get a good view though, because neither of us wanted to get too close to the fragile rocky edge. Once we arrived in Takaka, we visited the Te Whikoropupu (Pupu) springs. The Pupu springs are quite the oxymoron, since they are the purest / clearest water in the world; forbidden to touch though. We suppressed the urge to touch the water or fill up our water bottles and ventured on later to find that our campsite was downstream of these springs. Here it wasn’t forbidden so we finally got a much-needed bath. In fact, we stayed here several nights and had many bone-chilling baths, but it the was cleanest water we’ve ever used!

We traveled up the coast of Golden Bay to hike around Wharariki Beach and farewell spit. Here we saw awesome dune and rock formations, and more seal colonies. We even got to experience a sand storm on one of the beaches; this was a bonus because we still needed a good sandblasting. On our way back to our campground we stopped at a calm beach and baked our selves.

We spent a day visiting the Rawhiti Cave, Labyrinth rocks, and the Grove. The cave had an enormous entrance with heaps of unique stalactites called photokarst. At first the stalactites looked normal, but if you look in the picture, some are aren’t pointing straight down like you would expect. Some are actually angled, which is a result of mosses and algae growing with the stalactite towards sunlight! Well, we thought it was pretty amazing. The Labyrinth rocks and the Grove offered more incredible rock formations with towers, chimneys, and gigantic boulders scattered about like it was professionally landscaped. And as the name suggests, it would be extremely easy to get lost amongst all the formations… just ask Michelle ;-)

The Abel Tasman National Park has an incredible 3-5 day coastal walk way with dozens of beaches and campgrounds that you can hike to (since there aren’t any roads). We didn’t feel like doing the whole great walk since we would need transportation afterwards, so we just did parts of it over a few days. The hikes brought you along the beach, up through some jungle to a lookout of the beach along with the next beach you’re headed to. 

The last day in the park we rented a sea kayak and explored the coast that way. We kayaked out to some islands that had some more seal colonies. The seals may look cute and cuddly, but they have the worst breath. I’m not kidding when I say you can smell it from 200-300 feet away. It’s terrible. We saw one in the water so we kayaked upwind from it to get a closer look. In the water, the seals are actually quite friendly, but on land they are very aggressive. The kayaking was a nice break from hiking, but after 6hrs of kayaking we were spent.

We spent Christmas day in Nelson on the beaches. It was a beautiful 85 degrees and sunny. We spent the day laying out, having a picnic and snorkeling (looking for paua). Although all the paua was too small it was fun looking at all the sea life. We are making our way to Christchurch so we can pick up Bob on the 31^st. We stopped in Kaikoura for a few days hoping for some good hiking, fishing, and paua gathering. The weather has not been the same as Nelson. It’s been chilly, windy, and rainy, but that didn’t stop us from going in the water to get some paua. We found a great spot and got eight paua in about 45 min. Eight was enough too, we were stuffed. As we were eating the paua, we were trying to compare it to other foods we normally eat. So the best we can describe it is a mixture between a clam and a scallop with a hint of morel mushroom. As you can imagine it’s quite popular here, but it’s illegal to sell or trade it, which means you can’t get it at the grocery or order it at a restaurant. The ONLY way to get it is to get it yourself. They have these restrictions along with a few others to prevent over fishing and ensure the survival of the species.

Kaikoura has been a fun/cool small town and when the sun did finally show it was quite magnificent with the mountains in the background.  We are on our way to pick up Bob and have quite the adventure planned out for him.

It’s been a few months now that we’ve been living out of the van, and it’s not quite what we expected. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great experience, but are missing a few amenities that we’ve taken for granted.  First of all we try to find free overnight parking. There are places, but you have to find them, which can be challenging at times. Many of the camp/parking lots that we overnight at only have the usual drop toilet, so when we do go into an establishment with a facility it’s a treat ;-) We have a 30 L water jug that lasts us a few days, but when that gets low, it becomes a mission to find a place to fill it up. Many of the camping areas don’t have rubbish bins either. They have the “pack in-pack out” policy, so it’s difficult getting rid of our rubbish. When you combine all these tasks on a daily basis, it becomes quite comical; always looking for garbage bins, water faucets, rivers or lakes to bath in, nice restrooms, power outlets and free wifi. It’s never ending, but we are loving it and we enjoy the freedom of traveling. We have had a few laughs when we’ve talked to others going through the same experiences; we’re not the only crazies out here. 
If you would like to see more pictures click on the following links below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115853505113135701754/MarlboroughSoundsAndGoldenBay

https://picasaweb.google.com/115853505113135701754/AbelTasmanNationalPark