Day 154 Monday 8th February 2010
Stacey says
After spending the night tossing and turning til 2am, we had to be up and out for a 7.10am transfer to catch the ferry. It was a huge ferry, more like a cruise ship! The views going through the Cook Straight and into the harbour of the South Island were really nice. It was a mammoth day of traveling across to Picton and onto Nelson, arriving at 4.30pm. We passed through massive winery regions along the way. Nelson is in the centre of New Zealand, and is known as the sunshine city, it was still really hot out when we arrived. We walked over to Countdown Supermarket to get our food in, and made some chilli con carne and battled out two games of scrabble (1-1) before heading to bed.
Day 155 Tuesday 9th February 2010
Johno says
Today we decided to make our own way out to the Abel Tasman National Park, one and a half hour drive north of Nelson through various vineyards, orchards and hops plantations. A walking track is situated along the coast and takes you through woodland with random wildlife (like birds with what looks like carrots on their noses and other ones which have punk rocker hair styles) and the odd look out to the ocean making some really good views. It was good to chill out along the route that ended up at a beach named Apple Tree Bay - there wasn't any Apple Trees but the beach area here was quiet and peaceful with golden sand and clear waters and virtually no-one else on the beach to join us. As we had walked 6km to the this spot we decided we better walk back to the coach pick up point so made our way back the way we came, the coastal walk spans 20km in total so maybe if we had more time, it would have been nice to make our way up further along the route but never mind - I am pleased with what we see this time. We made it back to our hostel for the early evening and for a good night of rest.