Friday morning we got up and had breakfast in Picton. The town is actually pretty nice during the day. We got a lot of great pictures (check facebook soon). We picked up our rental car at noon and then the real fun began. I got to drive on the left side of the road through winding roads up the side of a mountain. Kiwi drivers are INSANE. I was passed by a lot of them because I was staying right at the speed limit, and they pass in the middle of turns. I really thought some of them were going to hit oncoming cars. I was even being passed when the speed limit was 100km/hr and I was at the limit. We stopped at a couple of lookouts on the way to Nelson, where we stayed Friday and Saturday night. We took a lot of really pretty pictures, including the one on my blog (not the one on the first entry). We also stopped to play in a stream. In January :) Our hostel in Nelson was amazing. We were able to cook a spaghetti dinner Friday night, pizza Saturday, and breakfast Sunday morning before heading back to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington.
We went to Tahuna Beach on Friday (again, January!!), and Steven swam out to this huge rock that he just HAD to climb. Aerin, Allison, and I looked at the tidepools in the rocks closer to shore while he went on his adventure, and wound up getting semi-trapped by the tide. We then proceeded to climb up onto our own rocks and jump up onto the sidewalk above us. It was our own little adventure.
Saturday was amazing. We got up early and visited the market in Nelson, where we bought a few souvenirs, and then headed up to Abel Tasman, a national park not too far from Nelson where we went sea kayaking (completely new experience for me). We paddled out to a small beach, where we had lunch and Steven climbed another rock (and then back-flopped off), then we paddled across to Adele Island (I think) where seals hang out. When we got around to the north end of the island, we found the rest of the Pacific Program group (we split up on Thursday but had booked the same events) along with at least 10 if not 15 seals, including babies :). I took Steven's camera and got some really good pictures, which I will upload as soon as I get them from him, and he continued paddling. Sometimes it pays to have a guy around. We lost Aerin and Allison at this point because we kept going around the island to see what's "just around the next corner!" So we continued our adventure alone. The return trip was exhausting, but well worth it. We made it back to shore (an hour later) with minor blisters and pains, and a pretty impressive sunburn on the one place i neglected to put sunscreen. I guess I was just too excited about getting in the water.
On the way back to Nelson we stopped at a place called Rabbit Island. It had to be the most peaceful, open beach I have ever been to. There were very few people and no pets, so we were able to take a lot of pictures of the scenery. We made it back to Nelson fairly early, so we were able to go to the grocery store and get back to the hostel in time for pudding. We spent close to an hour socializing with a girl from England who is spending her gap year (between high school and university, apparently it is customary to spend a year travelling) in NZ. It was interesting to talk to her about her travels and the differences between England and America. It was also interesting to hear her views on government healthcare, since she comes from a country that has it. I enjoyed talking to her. Then I talked to a woman from Germany who is cycling (as in bicylcle...has anyone looked at the pictures of the mountains I've posted??) through NZ. I was impressed.
To explain the title, we FINALLY saw some sheep in NZ! Sheep outnumber humans in NZ, but we're staying in a city so we had yet to see any. We definitely saw sheep and cows (you know how we stop for trains in the states? They stop for cows here. And sheep, but we didn't have to stop for any of those. Just a whole bunch of cows). The entire ride to Nelson, and then to Abel Tasman, was filled with screams of "SHEEP!" and "COW!" (like the Chick-fil-a commercial where the kid yells cow! repeatedly). It was terrifying the first few times, since I was driving and wasn't prepared for screaming.
Random other things happened, but this blog is insanely long already. I'll end by saying that Nutella is fantastic and Tim Tams (chocolate covered chocolate thing) are better than Tui (local beer). But chocolate is better than everything, so I guess that's not really fair to say.
:)
Rabbit Island
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