Abel Tasman with Vida and co.

Abel Tasman National park, 2nd feb - 11th feb

Yeah! Familiar faces! My good friends (and neighbours) Vida and Kasper have come over to see Vida's family. They invited me to spend some of their holiday with them at the family bach (summer house) and go on a three day tramp to Abel Tasman National Park. Great fun - and proper holidays!


A family tradition - minigolf in Picton.



Now this is summer!

An outing to Howard's Hole - a collapsed cave system.

The Hole - which I almost dropped my glasses into! Upps!

Able Tasman... you just can't beat those golden beaches!

Of course, the trip included a tour of some of the more spectacular achitecture in the area... Lucky for us, Fiona has the right contacts!

4 happy architects! ( Well, ok - 3 and one landscape architect!)

The two kayaks were great fun, and gave us all a break from tramping...

Sunrise..... a peacefull moment before the sandflies and cicadas start their day. Just consider yourseves lucky I restricted myself to only 3 pics!

A last meal before heading out of the park...

After a hard time of good eating, wine, sunbathing, reading and swimming, the others have left, and I have decided to stay on for a bit and earn a bit of money so that I can continue my tour up towards the North Island. David, the regular tenant at the bach at Stevens bay, has agreed to let me stay on, and I have got a job at a nusery, pruning vines. The only catch is that the job is 15 km away, and I don't have any other means of transport than a bike..... Oh well, if I don't get fit after this, I never will! This last picture by the way, is my very own swimming pool, just 100 meters from the back door.....

Oamaru

Oamaru, 26th jan - 1.feb

Ok, so it's not quite an organic farm.... It's a beatifull old settlers house that has been saved from decay and given new life in the form of a hostel with organic and artistic influences. A work in progress, as any wwoofer who stays with Kelly at Chillawhile will find out. The chance to be part of this ongoing project, and the space to be creative whenever or however I pleased, meant that this week simply flew by. And the great people I shared this experience with, made it truly special. Thanks guys!

Out and about in Oamaru... A town festival with everything from Ronald McDonald to canons, to rowing races, to rope ladders that won't stay still..... And then a visit to the historical town center, with quaint little shops showing what life was like when the early scottish settelers lived here, and a glimpse of the world of artists that have given Oamaru a new, creative identity.

Queenstown, Wanaka

23rd-26th jan

The area around Queenstown and Wanaka is one of New Zealands main tourist attractions. I set out to find out why. Only one small problem - the only form of activity that I could afford was walking.... And as spectacular as the scenery is, the main attraction in those parts are adrenalin pumping adventure sports like bungy jumping and skydiving. So for that reason I did't stay long in tourist infested Queenstown, but I did quite enjoy my walks along the lakes and rivers of Wanaka. I decided though that it was about time to stop taking long walks by myself for a while, worrying about how to make 3 items from the supermarket last both breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days - so I booked a bus back east, close to where I had started my tour of the South Island for a spot of wwoofing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) in Oamaru.....

Milford Sound

22nd jan

Fiordland is what they call the maze of mountains and sea that makes up part of the west coast of the South Island. One of these fjords is the Milford Sound, and anyone who is in that part of the country would be a fool to miss it. So, despite my low funds, when I got offered a lift, I jumped at the chance. The cloudy day made the place look even more mysterious and magical, and the shower we had on the way in just meant that the steep mountainsides where covered by a huge amount of cascades that would disappear in a few hours. This Maori myth strikes me as a beautifull way to describe Fiordland:

When the god Tu-te-raki-whanoa finished creating the landscape of Fiordland, it was absolutely stunning...so stunning that it stopped people from working. They just stood around gazing at the beauty instead. The goddess Hinenuitepo became angry at these unproductive people, so she created the sandfly to bite them and stop them lingering in the beautifull Fjordland....

A few stops on the way home; some voluntary, others not....