The Last Week

The last week, since Napier, has been a bit of a whirlwind. So much I'm starting to forget when we have done things and what we have seen. I guess this is what life on the road is like.

From Napier we headed south for Wellington stopping on the way as and when we wished. We found a little campsite near Dannevirke, near a coppermine and miles away from any form of civilisation. No street lighting, no cars, people, shops....nothing. The host was a Liverpudlian named George who lived in a caravan on the site and had lived there for 23 years in pretty much solitary conditions! The isolation slightly freaked me out. All sorts of spooky movies were going through my head as darkness approached but we made it through the very, very dark night, under glorious stars, alive! From there we headed to Wellington and got on a very late ferry with a bunch of truckers to the South Island.

The weather on the South Island during the first few days was absolutely appalling. Apparently they experience some of the wettest weather in the world. Much to our dismay....it was like being back at home. However, we soldiered on and headed for the Abel Tasman National Park for a spot of kayaking. Abel Tasman has been listed as having one of the top 10 beaches in the world.

The kayaking ended up being an expedition into pouring rain, although the coastline was beautiful all the same. Can't help feeling we missed it in it's glory though. After shooting our arms and shoulders to pieces from kayaking around 12km we checked into a backpackers place called The Barn.....amazing little place.

From there we headed down the west coast for the glaciers stopping at Tauranga Bay and the Pancake Rocks. Taurango Bay has some of the best surf I've ever seen and hosts a colony of seals, who I could've watched for hours lolling about on the sun soaked rocks.

The Pancake Rocks are rock formations that have formed over thousands of years and look like layer upon layer of rocks....hence the name. There are also supposed to be some pretty fantastic blowholes but because we are in a new moon the tide isn't as high as it should be so it was more a case of poofholes that blowholes. Either way, the west coast has some stunning, wild coastlines and a very angry sea. Amazing.