The most beautiful hike we have ever done...so far

Today's post will be short and sweet because we are wonderfully tired and nothing sounds better than a glass of wine on the beach. We hiked 18 km in the Abel Tasman National Park from Wainui Bay to Separation Point. It was spectacular - lots of up and down, amazing view points, great forest and we saw absolutely no one until the late afternoon hikers were coming into the park to stay over night at the Whariwharangi Hut.

Happy Easter everyone!

Golden Bay - kayaking and tramping

We arrived in Pohara, Golden Bay on Sunday night and are staying for 4 days at our ocean side campsite. Monday, after yoga on the beach under the most beautiful sunny sky, we headed out to Tata Beach to kayak with Golden Bay Kayak.  Our trip took us to the edge of Abel Tasman National Park in Wainui Bay. We were just two of 4 people with our guide Paul. The tandem kayaks handled beautifully on the perfectly calm waters. Roblin (I ) was very thrilled by this!  

Hot chocolate on the beach with our guide Paul and Alex from Italy with his girlfriend, Isabelle from New Caledonia. 

Tuesday morning we woke up to another beautiful day and decided to go up to Farewell Spit at the most northern edge of the South Island. The Farewell Spit is a nature reserve with incredible sand dunes that divide the top edge of the island, with Golden Bay on one side and the Pacific on the other. We hiked up the Golden Bay side, cut across the spit to the Pacific side to be greeted by the most fabulous stretch of untouched beach that stretches for 35 kms. 

The route for the tramp back was over the dunes and through farmers' fields.

On our return down the coast we stopped at Estuary Arts where we spent time talking to the resident artists, Bruce Hamlin and his wife, Rosie Little. We purchased a piece of art of the Farewell Spit that will always remind us of our holiday. 

Our day ended with a trip to the Waikoropupu Springs - a sacred Maori site with the clearest water in the South Island. 

World of Wearable Art in Nelson

After spending the morning at the Nelson Farmers' Market we went to the World of Wearable Art Museum. This was the most enjoyable 2 hours at a Museum that we can remember. The exhibits of garments, created by international artists, to be worn in a Cirque du Soleil - like show were incredible. We loved it. If you get a chance Google the WOW Museum.

A dress made entirely of balloons.

This entry was in the Bizarre Bra category - made with spent bullet casings with one being the poppy. 

The Farmer's Daughter's Dress, complete with Wellys.

Westport and Charleston Adventures

We have had such a great time over the last few days. On Thursday we stayed in Westport, on the Northwest coast and spent the morning watching the seals at Cape Foulwind. The colony is out on a point and the viewing area is a lovely walkway that is perched above the seals. You can stand there all day and watch the seals in their natural environment. We were lucky enough to see a few mother seals nursing their babies.  Here is one of a seal looking like he is ready to perform for the circus.

The beach on the way down from Cape Foulwind was a school group playing the national game, Cricket. 

In the afternoon we went to join the Underworld Adventures Tours of the Charleston caves. The tour was 4 hours of exploration of the cave system discovered in 1960. We covered over 1.5 km underground, with the final .5 km floating on an inner tube marvelling at the glowworms' luminescence. It was magical! 

One of the features that we were able to see up close were the drapes - formed over years by the constant leeching of water through the limestone.

Franz Josef up to Westport

We stayed at our best Holiday Park so far in Franz Josef. It is called the Rainforest Holiday Park and it was right in the town of Franz Josef. The site was beautiful - it did feel like a rainforest. It was right down the street from the Glacier Hot Pools and it had the Monsoon restaurant on the property, where the Lamb Shanks were the best! Rob's Bangers and Mash were first rate as well.  

The Franz Josef Glacier was an imposing view of nature's power. Its extreme vertical has cut deep through the valley.  While sitting looking at this magnificent site another part of glacier slid off the terminal edge.

Our travels took us up the West Coast Scenic Highway to The Pancake Rocks where the tidal force of the Tasman Sea has eroded the limestone rock and created blowholes on this part of the coastline. Witnessing the power of the sea was thrilling.

Travelling to the West Coast

We have spent the last couple of days travelling from Milford Sound to Franz Josef on the west coast. The drive was spectacular, particularly the Alpine Pass from Queenstown to Wanaka, and needless to say the roads are windy and narrow with great lookouts. We walked to the Blue Pools, climbed up to the Haast Lookout, Fantail Falls, Dune walk, where we saw Hector Dolphins, and a great hike to the remote Munro Beach.

 Two nights ago we did our first freedom camping on the beach just south of Haast. Rob noticed little cut out roads through the shore brambles that led right to the beach. The waves were crashing in and there was space for our van, no one else there and we were facing west for a great sunset!  The sunset we got as you can see but we also got sandflies and mosquitoes, lots of them. The walk on the beach at sunset was worth it. 

Milford Sound area

So, we have been in Milford Sound for 4 days without cell or wifi connections. It was heavenly - very relaxing. We camped at the Milford Sound Lodge, the only camping site in the Sound. The Sound was named incorrectly, it is actually a Fiord. The fiord is breathtakingly beautiful. We took the first boat cruise out in the morning when the bus loads of tourists had not arrived yet as advised by the locals and were rewarded with a nice chat with one of the crew from Edmonton, Alberta and a glacial facial courtesy of the Captain and Stirling Falls. There are very few people that actually stay in Milford so there a lot of bus tours that come in for the day. 

In the afternoon we hiked the Key Summit. The views at the top were awesome - I did expect Legalus and Aragon to go running by on the opposite range!

Unfortunately , the downhill was a little hard on my knee so we did not do any other big hikes but did go see Humboldt Falls and did yoga on the beach - again!  The last night we stayed at a DOC campsite on Mackay Creek on our way back from Milford. Mackay Creek is in the valley of the Murchison Mountains. 

The sites are situated beside the creek, where Rob had a swim-shower, there is no power, no water but an abundance of stars!

Otago Travels

Our last two days have been full of adventures - learning the ins and outs of our motorhome, navigating driving here, walking in gardens, seeing incredible historical buildings, attending a professional rugby match, stopping at vistas along the way through this ever changing countryside ... Today we travelled the winding roads of the Otago Peninsula, spending several hours on the beach at Sandfly Bay.

                                                Moeraki Boulders in Oamaru

                                                Prior to yoga on Sandfly Bay

Lyttelton Hike

We hiked the Bridal Path Trail used by the pilgrims in 1850 to carry all of their belongings from Lyttelton Harbour to their newly allotted land in Christchurch. This 2 1/2 hour hike over the volcanic rock mountain gave spectacular views of Lyttlelton to the south and Christchurch to the north.

                                             

Christchurch City Centre

We spent the day walking around Christchurch. The city is devastated from the earthquake of 2010 and 2011. Almost 1500 building needed to be demolished and the downtown core is trying hard to rebuild. The  biggest hit from the quake was the Christchurch Cathedral. It took 40 years to build starting in 1864 and is completely unusable today. Having said that the Kiwi's have done a great job making the downtown interesting and very walkable. There are large murals on buildings left standing and sculptures in random open lots.  

The botanical gardens were beautiful and so peaceful and free!! We found Begonia's the size of side plates.