Wednesday, April 09, 2014

From The Centre Of New Zealand To Ferngully

We have spent the last two days in and around Nelson. Yesterday (Tuesday), I woke up feeling quite awful. My throat was killing me and I was exhausted. I ended up crawling back into bed and sleeping the morning and part of the afternoon away. Dave and I went to the Suter Gallery for lunch, at a cafe which overlooked the river. I found some fun things at a grocery store while Dave took in the art at the Gallery. Then we walked through the Queen's Gardens, also known as the Botanical Gardens.

After some time in the gardens, we walked to the geographical centre of New Zealand. It was quite the trek! Actually, it was only about a fifteen minute walk from our B&B, but it involved climbing a rather steep hill with many twists and turns. (Sound familiar??? It was much like the roads here!)
 
New Zealand is quite amazing. One person told me, "You will never see a bad view" and while I may not agree with that 100%, there are some really awesome views. For instance, on one side of the centre of New Zealand is mountains...
...and then if you turn around, Nelson is laid out before you, stretching to the water, with more mountains in the background.
Today I was feeling a little more ambitious, so we headed out to Abel Tasman National Park. Donny and Marika took a three hour (water taxi) tour, and Dave and I joined them for half an hour of it. Then we got dropped off at Anchorage Bay and undertook a 12.6 km (7.9 mile) 'tramp' (as they're called here) back to Marahau where Donny and Marika picked us up.
 
New Zealand is home to over 200 different species of ferns and Dave and I might have seen all of them on our tramp. We joked that we were hiking through Ferngully because it was so incredible. There were these huge gullies of ferns, some of which we walked around, and some of which we walked over (thanks to bridges), and then we'd come out of them and have these incredible ocean views.
And then, after about three and a half hours, we were done. It was a beautiful tramp and I enjoyed it a lot more than the Kaikoura Peninsula Walk which I did on Monday.
After a long afternoon of tramping, I ate an amazing meal of fresh fish and steamed vegetables. And then I ate three quarters of Donny's salad and half of Dave's french fries. I was a wee bit hungry :) And now I'm off to bed because I'm also a wee bit tired!
Tune in tomorrow (later today?!?! What time is it anyways?) when I will be coming to you from the North Island. Next up: The Ferry Crossing. (Or possibly New Zealand from Dave's point of view...)

*To read about Day 7, go here.

8 comments:

  1. YAY! You made it to Abel Tasman! Hopefully your feet and body survived it in better shape than mine did! haha

    Hope you start feeling better!!!

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    1. I loved Abel Tasman. And since we only spent about three and a half hours there, my feet survived quite nicely. They were happier after Abel Tasman than they were after Kaikoura!

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  2. Whew, I'm tired just reading about all that walking and hiking! Sounds like Donny and Marika think you and Dave are crazy for doing all that walking...I may or may not agree with them. ;-) Those mountain views are pretty phenomenal though. Remind me of the mountain and ocean views on the Hawaiian islands (the only thing I have personally seen to compare it to) with all that lush green vegetation. Oh and that just isn't right to not feel well when you are on vacation. Hope that little sick spell has completely passed!

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  3. Those ferns are so huge!!! Who knew that existed??!

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  4. Oh my goodness, I would love to comment on EVERYTHING! But I'm glad you are both enjoying it - I love that you're there, soak it up!
    Teresa.

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  5. All these photos look so gorgeous! And can I say how amusing I find it that you're in New Zealand the same time as Will & Kate. Hopefully you're able to track them down while you're there! :)

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  6. Oh wow! It's just so pretty there. I'm sorry that you weren't feeling well.

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  7. I liked this walk the best (or at least from the pictures it looks like the best one! ;) I am sorry you were sick on your trip...but at least no children to take care of while you were sick!! I love reading about your awesome trip and if I ever ever go to NZ I am stealing your entire itinerary!

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