February 1-5
Just one of the beautiful flowers in the park across from our hostel in Nelson
We left Kaiteriteri on the afternoon of February 1st, with Nelson as our destination. Nelson is a good sized city so camping was out and hostels were in. Hostels here are a great way to travel, even if you are "40-something". Besides the usual dorms, most also have double rooms for couples like Shaun and me. And they always have big communal kitchens with fridges and cooking supplies like pots and pans that make it easy to self cater. Since we started the trip, we have been traveling with a cooler full of food so this type of lodging works really well. And sometimes you find a real gem among the hostels. Accents on the Park was just that!
We chose Accents on the Park based on a recommendation in Lonely Planet and man, did they have it spot on! The location was right downtown, bordering a park, and the rooms were spotless. But it went beyond that. The whole place had character, like the little bar/cafe they had installed downstairs. They served vegetarian food (filling a void in the city) and local beer and had cool music and great old tables and woodwork that they had reclaimed from an old farmhouse that was being torn down. If that wasn't enough, the owners were wonderful, willing to give all sorts of advice and help to Nelson Newbies. We had only booked one night but we immediately asked if they had a room available for the next night. As luck would have it, they had a cancellation so we reserved the second night.
The Church of the Hills in Nelson
More of the flowers in the park
Our time in the city of Nelson was good, but we didn't get to do a lot. Because of the lack of wi-fi, we had gotten behind on a lot of things we were supposed to do, so we spent much of our first afternoon trying to play catch up. The city itself was really cute, with a great downtown full of coffee shops, bars and restaurants. Looking out above the city was a church with beautiful gardens all around filled with local flora. We ate a little dinner at a Thai place in town and did some walking around the park (which was next to our Hostel) before heading back to Accents on the Park. We decided we couldn't stay here without having a drink in the bar downstairs, so we enjoyed a couple of local beers before heading upstairs to bed.
The main drag in downtown Nelson
Shaun downstairs at the Hostel enjoying a beer
The next day we got winery suggestions from the owners of the hostel and headed out to see what the area had to offer. We went to two vineyards that day, Neudorf and Waimea, both on the outskirts of Nelson. Neudorf was beautiful. They had a lovely spot out back where you could sit and relax in the sun after your tasting. It would have been a nice spot for a picnic if we had thought ahead. Waimea wasn't quite as nice aesthetically, but the guy doing the tasting was great. He gave us all sorts of tips for our visit to the North Island. As with everything in life, the people you meet make all the difference and we ended up really enjoying the visit to Waimea.
On the grounds of Neudorf Vineyards
We took our wine back to Nelson and stopped at a butcher to buy some dinner supplies. We got some lamb and lots of veggies and cooked out on the grill downstairs and then enjoyed our fabulous meal in the communal kitchen. I must say, I do sometimes feel bad when we cook at the hostels. Even though we are on a budget, we have done some nice dinners and it often feels a little like drinking Champagne at McDonalds. Lots of the younger people are doing the "rice for a week" thing so it feels out of place when we have something like lamb chops. Of course, not everyone does plain white rice. We've seen plenty of gourmets at the hostels, making fabulous meals right alongside us, so I don't feel that bad!
The next day we made the drive down the coast to Kaikora, a former fishing town that now is famous for whale watching, seals and beautiful hikes. The drive was gorgeous and along the way we stopped at a little spot called Ohau, where a seal colony lives and breeds. We were hoping to see some seal pups up the river at the waterfall (a famous spot for seeing pups) but it looked like the river was too low for them to get up there. Regardless, there was a beautiful waterfall at the end of the walk, so it was worth it the short hike. After the walk to the waterfall, we crossed the street to the ocean side and marveled at the huge seal colony on the rocks by the beach. It was incredible how close we were to these hundreds of seals. And best of all, there were dozens of little seal pups scooting around, calling out for their mums and playing. We took tons of pictures and even a few videos. We were careful not to get between the mothers and pups or between the seals and the ocean, because both will get you bitten, but we were within about 10 feet of the colony. It was amazing.
Look closely! There are forty-plus seals in this picture but they blend in very well!
Sometimes it feels like they are posing for photos!
Awww...Seal Love
Our other stop on the way was a roadside stand called Nin's Bins. They sell Crayfish, the New Zealand equivalent of the Lobster, and Nin's is the most famous Cray stand in the area. Of course, once she showed us the prices, we decided to take a pass! A single crayfish was between 48 and 54 dollars and that was served cold! Coming from New England, where we can get Maine Lobsters for as little as 5 dollars a pound in summertime we just could not bring ourselves to pay those prices.
Upon arrival, the task for the afternoon was finding lodging. We didn't like the looks of the Top 10 Holiday park down there so we decided to use a Lonely Planet suggestion instead. The Sunrise Lodge was nothing fancy, but they had a cute little studio apartment that was inexpensive and clean. We dropped our bags, changed into hiking gear and headed down toward the water.
The Kaikora Peninsula walkway is a beautiful cliffside walk with farmland on one side and the ocean on the other. The walk starts at a place called Kean Point, where there is yet another seal colony. This one was hilarious. The seals were not only lounging on the rocks, they were beside the road in the grass as well! By this point we had seen so many seals the novelty had almost worn off, so we spent just a few minutes at Kean Point before heading up the steep walkway that starts the Kaikora Peninsula walk.
A herd of cows at the start of our walk, it totally reminded us of Ireland
Along the cliffs in Kaikora
The walk we chose to do was 3.5K out to the South Bay and then back again. The first thing we noticed was how similar it was to the walks we did around the Dingle Peninsula. There were cliffs and the ocean on one side, and farmland with cows and sheep on the other. Similar to Dingle, there were steps and gates that allowed you to cross from one fenced in farm to another. I've often thought about how gracious it is for these farmers to allow people to cross their land day after day. The hiking in Ireland and New Zealand would be much poorer without this collaboration between the people who work the land and those of us who are just trying to explore and enjoy it.
Reminded of the Dingle Peninsula again!
Besides the cows and sheep, there were beautiful birds and flowers all along the walk so there was always something to look at. We followed the worn paths out to the South Bay where we climbed down to the beach below and explored the tidal pools along the water before climbing up and hiking back to Kean point. By the time we got back to Kean point we had been hiking for 3 hours and we were starving so we drove into the town center in search of food. We ended up at a bar called The Whaler, where we had a fabulous meal of Fish and Chips with a pint of local beer. By the time we finished dinner we were ready to fall asleep so we headed back to the Sunrise lodge and did just that.
Happy happy girl!
The next day we packed up our things and then headed back down to Kean point. We were headed to Marlborough wine country and then Picton that afternoon, but first we had decided to do a stretch of the Kaikora peninsula hike from down below on the beach. During low tide you can climb along the rocks and walk on the sand almost the entire length that we had done the night before from above. There are bird colonies and tidal pools and seals along the way, which made it very different from the cliffside walk. We were happy we had the chance to do both hikes.
The view along the shore for our low tide hike. It was gorgeous that day.
That afternoon we stopped at two vineyards in Marlborough, Wither Hills and Cloudy Bay. At Wither Hills the food looked so good we decided to have lunch. Shaun had a Venison pie and I had a seafood stew with some of the famous New Zealand mussels. The mussels in NZ are delicious but they can be a little scary if you've never had them as they are HUGE! Regardless, the stew was delicious and Shaun's venison pie was fabulous so we were both happy. Our final tasting on the South Island was later that day at Cloudy Bay, one of New Zealand's most famous vineyards. Cloudy Bay is known for their Sauvignon Blanc and it is no wonder. The wine was gorgeous and we thought it was a perfect end to our last full day on the South Island, but we didn't realize at the time that there was much more fun to come!
Venison Pie at Wither Hills. Yummy, if you don't mind eating bambi, which clearly we don't!
Nothing but blue skies at Cloudy Bay
That afternoon we drove up to Picton, where we would be taking the Ferry back to the North Island of New Zealand. We had booked a little no frills cabin at the Top 10 Holiday Park in Picton and we had just finished bringing in our stuff when we ran into Neil, one of our fellow campers from the Holiday park in Te Anau. Neil and his wife were from England and they were also in the middle of an extended trip to New Zealand. They were taking the Interislander ferry the next day as well. Since we had both been on the South Island for a while, we both needed to use up some food and wine before our big travel day. (No sense packing it if you can drink it right!??) We decided to meet up later that evening by the barbecues to have a little farewell dinner.
Dinner was a great time. Shaun and I contributed some smoked salmon and crackers we had bought in our travels, along with some lovely wines. Neil and his wife Sheila contributed some wine and beer, some salad and some bread that they grilled up to make garlic bread. We each bought some meat and veg to grill and we cooked it all up into a fabulous feast. We talked for hours about the things we had seen and done and the things we planned to do in the future. We had lots of laughs and lots of fun and before we knew it, it was time for bed! We said our goodbye's and we headed off to sleep, happy to have spent such a fun night in the company of such nice people.
Our new friends and fellow travellers Neil and Sheila. Jeepers I hope that's how they spell their names! I'll throw in Neal and Shelagh just to be safe!
The next day we got up early and packed up our things. The Interislander Ferry is such a common way to get between the North and South Islands that the car rental companies don't even bother having you bring the car. Instead, you just call them and tell them what day you'll be taking the ferry and then drop your car at the rental office next to the ferry before boarding. When you arrive in Wellington on the North Island they have another car waiting for you!
So our time on the South Island came to a close on the afternoon of February 5th. We checked in, dropped our bags at the baggage check and boarded the Ferry. I was excited to spend some time on the North Island, but I was a little sad. The South Island was one of the most wonderful, surprising places I have ever had the good fortune to explore. We both hope to be back soon.
The quote of the week at the Whaler in Kaikora. Priceless!
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