Hey all! its Feb 27th Sunday.
Tessa and I just dropped off Bill at the airport. It was crazy to see him here on the other side of the world. A taste of home! (Sigh) I thought I'd recap what's been going on for the last week or so. AFter driving min. 4-5 hours a day, Tessa and I decided to stay a few days in Kaikoura, a town with less than 1000 people. Its known for its whale watching and ocean life. Its a cute little town. It felt so good to leave the car for a day or two and let NZ sink in a bit. We bummed around the beaches and pubs. Bill started with us there. From there we drove to the moutains to a town called Hamner Springs. Its known for its thermal spas. It felt SOOO nice to relax in the warm water all day. There was a little fee but it was definately worth it!
The next day we drove 5+ hours to a town just south of Able Tasmen National Park. Motuka ( i think). We took advantage of their happy hours on friday and tooled around town. Its a cute little town. That night we decided how we were going to tackle a HUGE park in one day and one night.
We decided to get a water taxi from the northern most point of the coastal track and hike our way back to base camp. Tessa decided to take the treak one stop further. It was SO beautiful. The water was bight turquise and the sand, golden or bright white. The bush surounding the beaches were lush and tropical. Ferns that looked like palm trees. The smells were to amazing! It was a rich mix of ocean air, fresh rain and amazingly sweet flowers. so awesome! Bill and I played on the beach most of the day waiting for tessa to come our way and then walk together... we somehow missed her so we traveled the trek on our own. We stopped at this random remote lodge near the end. It was really charming, the nicest place i've seen in NZ yet.
We continued on the trail. We had to time the hike with low tide in order to make it to camp dry. It worked out perfectly! i loved every second of it! The one downfall were the sandflies... oh my goodness, they were relentless! They followed us most of the treak and didn't let up until the moon came out. Luckily for that, 'cause the moon rise over the ocean was so amazing. The relection on the water was so nice and the endless stars... what a beautiful sight.
Now i'm in Nelson and we're (tessa and I) leaving tomarrow on our way south. I'm excited to see what comes up! I'll keep you posted!!