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Sunday, 15 January 2012 - (Abel Tasman) Seals and plonk

After a frankly much-needed break back at home in Christchurch for a couple nights (this travelling thing really does take it outta ya), we set off again this morning heading north along the east coast of the South Island. Our first stop about two and a half hours later was Kaikoura, overlooked by the Kaikoura mountain range off in the distance. Kaikoura is a very cool little seaside town, and home to about 4,000.

Check out the colour of that water!		Marine animals are abundant here due to the ocean-current and continental-shelf conditions: the seabed gradually slopes away from the land to a depth of about 90m then plunges to more than 800m. When the southerly current hits the continental shelf it creates an upwelling, brining nutrients up from the ocean floor into the feeding zone. Whales, dolphins, New Zealand fur seals, even penguins can all be spotted in and around the Kaikoura waters.

Kristina especially wanted to see the local fur seal colonies, both in Kaikoura itself and further up what is a stunning coastline. Despite their dopey and lazy appearance while on land, seals are brilliant swimmers, and the New Zealand fur seals here have been known to swim right across the Tasman Sea to Australia, some 2,500km (1,500 miles) away!

From Kaikoura we continued north through the Marlborough region - home to many of New Zealand's wineries, almost 200 in fact which produce around three quarters of the country's wine. Sunny days and cool nights create the perfect microclimate for cool-climate grapes: world-famous sauvignon blanc, top-notch pinot noir, riesling and pinot gris to name a few. Around 40 of those wineries are open to the public, and since we were here we figured we'd stop in for a little wine tasting.

After another hour or so we made it up to Nelson, hailed as one of New Zealand's most 'liveable' cities and geographically the centre of New Zealand. We only called in here to raid the supermarket but will be spending some more time here in a couple days, so I'll bang on about it then.		Yet another hour later as the sun was setting we finally rolled in to our final destination for the next couple days - Abel Tasman National Park on the northwest corner of the South Island. This area is full of walking tracks, awesome beaches, and this grumpy horse. We found our campsite and set up shop while this grump across the road kicked the other horses in his paddock and made a big song and dance until they pissed off and left him alone hehe.
In other news, while we were loading our groceries into the car in Nelson, one of the trolley-dollies collecting the trolleys strewn all over the car park pointed out to me that this was his Toyota Corolla, and asked if I'd like to swap with him plus $50 my way hahaha! I told him I'd think about it.

Monday, 16 January 2012 - (Abel Tasman) Kaiteri!

This is the awesome little town and seaside resort of Kaiteriteri (better known as just Kaiteri). This is the sort of place that books out months in advance of summer. I phoned the motorcamp here over a week ago to see if they could squeeze our tent in and they laughed at me hehe. So we're staying in the next bay over instead and were lucky to even find accommodation there.		And this is another beach right behind Kaiteri barely 100 metres away on the other side of the hill.
And over there is yet another beach. In fact Abel Tasman Nation Park is littered with beaches, although most are inaccessible by road and instead require either a hike or a water taxi.		No shortage of expensive-looking yachts about the place too. One day I'll be able to afford one of these, one day.
So what did you do with your Monday? Well we parked up, set up camp on the beach, and there we stayed - swimming and laughing and just generally being gay and merry under the sun.

It's a hard life. Just need that yacht now.				Or perhaps this dude's house, right across from the beach with a little beach of its own and an awesome view across the water! Tomorrow we're planning to head to another awesome beach further north in the National Park for the day, although recent flooding in the area washed out the only road there so we'll just see where we end up.

Tuesday, 17 January 2012 - (Abel Tasman) Big holes

Yesterday I said we were planning to spend today on another awesome Able Tasman National Park beach. However, recent flooding washed away the only road access to this particular beach (Totaranui). Instead we did a couple other things on land, the first of which was buried in the hills at the end of this 11km gravel road.		This is the beautiful Canaan Downs Scenic Reserve, a large forested area that starred as Chetwood Forest in The Lord of the Rings movies.

We followed a 45-minute trail through the forest which started out easy enough before becoming really rocky - Kristina's favourite. Check out this video here of our native birds having a good sing-song.

She was smiling, but she didn't mean it ;)		At the end of that trail is this - a bloody big hole in the ground. This is Harwood's Hole, one of the largest caves in country and the Southern Hemisphere's deepest sinkhole at 357m deep, 70m wide, with a 176m vertical drop (which is mostly obscured here but the Wikipedia link above has a good shot of it). Highly experienced cavers are allowed to descend into the cave and out the other end (on the other side of the cliff). Signs posted warn not to throw shit into the hole in case there are cavers down there, but after several unanswered calls of "Hello?!" I couldn't help myself hehe.

From a bloody big holes to bloody high hills - this is the view from Takaka Hill. The road over the hill is one of the more stomach-churning for passengers that you'll find anywhere, but if you're the driver it's just a whole lotta fun!		On the other side of the hill we made our way here to Te Waikoropupu Springs, simply called "Pupu Springs".

Pupu Springs are the largest freshwater springs in Australasia and reputedly the clearest in the world. Around 14,000 litres of the good stuff per second surges from underground vents dotted around the reserve.				The water looks enticing but swimming is a no-no. Even making contact with the water is frowned upon but I did fill my drink bottle and gulp some down - it's good stuff!

Tuesday, 17 January 2012 - Seven years!
January 17 again, my own little personal anniversary of when I started this travelling thing, seven years ago now :) Last year I said I love reading back on what I've written on this day and seeing how much of my plans for the following 12 months actually came to fruition. Last year I mentioned a Scandinavian trip with Kristina, Slovenia for my birthday, Southeast Asia and New Zealand and so forth with Kristina that we're in the midst of doing at the moment - tick, tick, tick.

However, for the first time in those seven years, I don't have a solid plan for this next year. The company I worked for in London opened a branch in New York last year, and we parted ways with the understanding that if New York is a successful venture for them and if they have a position available later in the year when Kristina and I are done with this trip, then I would come on board with them based in New York. The advantages of that for me are a) I would have a job to walk into immediately, and b) they can sort me out with a US entry visa (a work visa in this case) which is damn near impossible to get otherwise. That's my Plan A but so far there has been no word on the likelihood of that happening. My Plan B is Canada. New Zealanders are able to get a one-year working holiday visa for Canada fairly easily. The problem with that is the fact it is only valid for a year - a lot less time than I would like. The solution to that is to find work with a company that would be willing to sponsor me for a work permit once that year is up, thereby enabling me to remain in the country. The problem with that though is finding such a company is easier said than done, and I'm then tied to working for that one company only as per the conditions of a Canadian work permit - nothing's easy! Furthermore, Canada may not necessarily be an option for Kristina, so there's that side to consider also. And as for a Plan C, well I'm still working on that.

There have been several ‘interesting' times over the last seven years such as whether I could find work as a graduate fresh out of university in Brisbane, whether I could establish myself in Edinburgh, getting to grips with the chaos that is London, and so on. I got through all of that and came out swimming, but these next 12 months may prove to be the most interesting yet. Watch this space :)

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 - (Marlborough Sounds) An alternative to Christchurch?

We left Abel Tasman National Park this morning and called into Nelson for lunch. After the persistent and on-going earthquakes in Christchurch, many folk are relocating up here permanently (although one such family did return to Christchurch because the pull of home was too strong, and a couple days later December 23rd happened hehe - I shouldn't laugh but some people are just cursed aren't they!). Nelson is home to 45,000 and has great weather, beautiful surroundings, and is hailed as one of New Zealand's most 'liveable' cities. While here we saw (and heard) the Hare Krishnas doing what they do - video here.
While wandering the main road through town we stumbled upon this - a so-called wailing wall. This dude in the hat is an 'artist' (in other words he's unemployed with no interest in finding work hehe) and is putting together this wall of empty water bottles and glue, each containing a message from randoms like us. Other such walls are apparently being put together in other parts of the country (we haven't seen any), and the hope is they can be joined together and put into storage as a type of time capsule so that in say 100 years from now our messages may be read. I don't mean to sound cynical, but my money says the only thing this is destined for is the recycling plant.
Overlooking the main drag is Christ Church Cathedral (the same name as that in Christchurch).

A typically impressive piece of work, surrounded by its own gardens full of lunch-goers.

From Nelson we headed along the Queen Charlotte Sound in the Marlborough Sounds - a geographic maze of inlets, headlands, peaks, and beaches. We set up camp for the night here in Momorangi Bay - a pretty bloody nice little spot to do bugger all (or to swim). Tomorrow we jump on the Interislander ferry from around the hill in Picton across to Wellington (New Zealand's capital city) to spend the final two weeks of this road trip in the North Island.

Thursday, 19 January 2012 - (Wellington) South to North

This is the little town of Picton, plonked at end of Queen Charlotte Sound.		And that ferry on the far right was our transport over Cook Strait and into New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, plonked on the bottom of the North Island. Back in the day these ferries had a reputation of not coping well with the regular bouts of inclement weather over the strait, and breaking down often hehe. Whether that's still the case I don't know, but thankfully there were no issues today.

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