In the North of the South

So Nelson is supposed to be the sunniest region in the country, averaging something like 2400 hours of sunlight annually. But you wouldn't know that from our last few days here. Yesterday we set out for Abel Tasman National Park first thing in the (cloudy, misty) morning. Our bus driver was this slightly crazy guy named Renee who talked non-stop for the entire hour and 45 minute ride. His topics ranged from climate to geology to agriculture to city planning and beyond. Apparently Nelson was planned as a "utopian society" back in the day, and the concepts used in this plan were taken from the Iriquois Indians' way of life. Also, of the more than 3000 varieties of apple, over 800 are grown in the Nelson area. And in harvest, each crate of apples must contain 3568 apples. When we set out he told us to concentrate on blue skies and use our bright smiles to bring some sunshine to the day. Bus drivers like him make the trip almost more entertaining than the destination.

When we got to Kaiteriteri, where we would embark on the water taxi portion of our journey, we did find a small hole in the clouds and a bit of optimistic sunlight peeking through. Unfortunately by the time we had traveled up the coast a bit to Anchorage Bay and the starting point for our hike, clouds had once again blotted out every bit of sky and we were treated to a light mist. Over the next four hours of hiking and walking it was NOT raining or misting for probably about 10 minutes. But walking through the dense jungley woods, with all the ferns and birdsong and flowing, dripping water made it feel like a rainforest. Every so often we would come upon a view of the meandering coastline with its many natural bays and coves. The sand of this area is golden quartz (hence the name Golden Bay), and the water is bright aqua. It was really gorgeous, and despite the weather we had a really good hike. I even spotted some sort of quail just of the trail at one point, though he scurried off into the undergrowth before I could get my camera out (I think the flapping of my large green transparent poncho may have had something to do with that).

We keep bumping into people many times over at different stages of our journey. In Picton we dormed with two girls whom we'd seen at the car market in Auckland; here in Nelson we recognize three people at our current hostel from the hostel we stayed at in Wellington; and just yesterday who should sit down on the bus next to us but this girl Laura whom we befriended briefly in Picton! I suppose some amount of over-lapping is inevitable on such a popular travel route. It'll be interesting to see just whom we keep crossing paths with as we continue on our way.

Today we'll re-provision and maybe wander a bit of Nelson, and then tomorrow we're heading down the coast to Greymouth. Along the way we'll stop at the seal colony at Cape Foulwind and the pancake rocks and blowholes at Punakaikai. And then after Greymouth it's on to Franz Joseph Glacier!

Should be an interesting few days.
We'll let you know all about it. :)