BootsnAll Travel Network



Wild in the Wilderness.

Well, so I lied, not really wild. But we were in the wilderness! Our trip to the south island was a sleepy one, Em and I both were passed out cold for most all the trip. But upon arriving in Picton, we found we’d stumbled upon some amazing scenary. The south island so far is incredibly beautiful.

Right away from Picton we got a boat into Marlborough Sounds. The Sounds are a collection of islands, bays, coves, and inlets at the top coast of the south island. Beautiful forested hills plunge into teal green waters. Serene and amazing. The area is filled with wildlife, in fact on the trip out to our hostel we saw seals and peguins! The seals were adorable. Apparently very smart as well. Our boat driver told us how it’s taken salmon farmers 10 years to figure out how to keep the seals out of their salmon. The peguins we only saw from a distance, but I can still say I saw them!

Our hostel was a wonderful little place tucked into Endeavor Inlet. We were the only ones there for most of the time, leading to a very quiet and relaxing few days. We also learned that heat is a real luxury in New Zealand. Apparently having heated rooms is a rarity on the south island. This is all well and good in the summer, but when there is snow in the forecast, not so good at all. We were FREEZING!!! We had two duvets on our beds, but ended up putting boiling water in our Nalgenes to snuggle with at night to keep warm. We kept a fire going in the living room which made things warmer the second day, but the nights were still very chilly. Going to make things interesting once we get to snow country. Luckily the second night the hostel brought us up some hot water bottles to keep in our beds.

Aside from relaxing in the hostel and attempting jigsaw puzzles, we also did some great hiking. Our backpacker (hostel in kiwi) was located right on the Queen Charlotte Track, as famous hiking trail. We went up one way one day and the other the next. A little mucky in places, but the views made it well worth it. The second day we could see a dusting of snow on the tops of the hills. Still an odd sight to see in mid June.

For now we are back in Picton for the night, our hostel has free apple crumble and ice cream, very excited for that. Tomorrow we are doing a wine tour by bike, should be a blast, we’ll see how many wineries we get to before walking the bikes might be necessary…:-)



Tags:

0 responses to “Wild in the Wilderness.”

  1. aunt cindy says:

    your grandfather Melville just found out that you had your trip on the net so he had me print all of it . He is so happy that he can read it . love aunt cindy

    p.s. I liked it also, keep having a good time,and be safe.

  2. Download Man In The Mirror Ringtone…

    Hear the ringtone of the popular song: Download Man In The Mirror …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *