January 12 - January 14

Thursday, January 12

We pack up in Wellington and make our way to the InterIsland Ferry. We're turning our car in on the North Island and picking up a new one on the South Island (Doug's hoping for a BMW when we get to the other side). We board the ferry and settle in for the 3 hour cruise (cue Gilligan's Island Theme). It immediately starts raining and pretty much rains the rest of the day. The ferry trip is pretty uneventful although we arrive slightly late in Picton. During the trip we're able to make Wellington updates on the web page for upload once we make landfall. We pick up our rental car and Doug is disappointed to learn that it's another Nissan Sunny.

We drive to Nelson and after loading the Wellington web pages, we both get haircuts and do a bit of grocery shopping. Then it's on to Motueka and our "farm stay". As it turns out the farm is on the side of a mountain. We have several animals greet us on arrival (although none of them carry our bags!) and we end up finding a really nice cabin. After quick showers, we head back into town for dinner at one of the local pubs. We're starting to notice a poor logistics trend in that restaurants are often out of various items (last night it was steaks, chicken or vegetables). Despite this, we found something good to eat. Over dinner we located a company that did half-day sea kayaking trips and decided to give that a shot on Friday.

Friday, January 13

We woke up to another rainy day but decided to try the sea-kayaking anyway. We met Mark, our water taxi driver, who took us up the coast to Stillwell Bay where we met up with Cliff, our kayak guide (he was finishing up a morning trip). After getting suited up in another stylish outfit, we were in the kayak and into the ocean for a quick lesson - then it was off. We immediately spotted a penguin and were able to get within 5-10 feet for a close-up look. We paddled over to Adele Island and Travis spotted a Dolphin. Cliff didn't believe him at first but then he saw it also. Doug was focused on trying to steer away from the rocks and missed it. We paddled around the island and Cliff (who is half Maori) told us all types of Maori stories about the sky, sea and land. We headed to the next island (Fisherman Island) and landed on Paradise Beach. We stopped there for cups of hot chocolate and a snack, and we also spotted a falcon. There were tons of scallop shells on the beach so Doug collected a couple as souvenirs. After the break we were back in the water and across a pretty wide expanse back to port. During our absence, the tide had gone out and it was amazing how different it looked. Mark had told us that they had over a 4 meter tide here and that we'd not be able to get close to the dock but we weren't quite prepared for how far out the tide went. Cliff indicates the tide can recede away from the beach as much as 1.6 km! We helped load up the kayaks (they use tractors to pull the trailers out to the water) and headed back to the car.

This area is known for some really nice beaches and there was one mentioned that's close (and you don't have to hike and/or kayak there) at Kaiteriteri. On the way, we pick up a couple of hitch hikers. It's a woman from Wellington and her young daughter who are staying in Kaiteriteri on holiday and had just finished up a hike. We're not sure if you should be more worried about us picking up hitch hikers or the fact that they got into the car with us! We drop them off, grab a couple of Cokes and dry out from the kayaking adventure on the beach.

We dry out enough and head back to the cabin to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. Upon our arrival back at the farm, the weather has finally cleared up enough so that we actually get the really good view from the cabin. You can see all the way to the sea. That's the Tasman Sea, by the way. The farm animals are all out as well. We get greeted by the peacocks and the rooster. The peacocks have been hanging around the cabin since we arrived. One of the goats becomes friendly as well. The farm is also home to cows, sheep, a pig and 9 working dogs. It's a HUGE farm and it is really an awesome place.

We headed back into town for dinner and do pizza and update this. There's actually an internet cafe in town that is laptop friendly, so we need to catch them before they close. We have a long drive tomorrow down the west coat and will be stopping in Greymouth for the night.

We hope that you've been enjoying following our journey and we will catch you in a couple of days!

Logistics

Welcome to the South Island!

We've stayed in a plane. We've stayed on a train. Now it's time to get to know the locals a little better with a Farm Stay! It's only 4,000 acres, so we're hoping that they don't expect us to do any work while we're here.

Farm Stay

The plan here is to check out the Abel Tasman National Park, get to know the locals, get in some more beach time, and maybe do a little sea kayaking.

Wilson's Abel Tasman Activities

Abel Tasman National Park