Abel Tasman… actual paradise

Again, this one is going to be picture heavy.

Finding our “own” bay that was then invaded by others.

Scott diving for mussels and then cooking them in copious amounts of butter, garlic, and white wine. [and our cute neighbors, an elderly couple from Nelson, who had experience in the mussel industry ensuring that the mussels were safe for human consumption]

Snorkeling  for rays.

Rock climbing.

Watching the sunset.

Morning swim while everyone else was just waking up.

Moronic neighbors who fed the seagulls [numerous inappropriate ideas for retaliation if any of the seagulls defecated on our tent were discussed… ask me in person for more details!]

Kayaking with beers, an action that was fully supported by our Kiwi guide who met up with us at a pub later.

Live music… Tony Swain thank you for your bluesy, rock’n’roll goodness!

And finally, and not so great, realizing that I am allergic to sandflies when my ankles swelled up after being bitten and all my bites turning into itchy, red welts.

Nelson… the gateway to all that is awesome

Or, the “most livable city in New Zealand” as it is sometimes called… I adored Nelson!  Apart from being the home to many craft breweries [we visited the Stoke Brewery just west of the Nelson City Centre], it is also the entrance point to some quality nature activities. According to K&T, Nelson has some of the best weather annually out of any city in NZ. Although, I do believe that our enjoyment of Nelson also stemmed from the fact that we stayed in The Bug Hostel, which was not only super cute and clean [yay!], but also the bed was WICKED comfortable after sleeping on an air mattress in a tent!

 

Regardless of the short time we spent in Nelson, we agree that it would definitely be worth a second look on a later adventure. We did a short, yet relatively steep, hike to the “Centre of New Zealand”. An American expat couple advised that the view was particularly good on that day, as it was completely clear in all directions for the first time in weeks. We snapped a bunch of photos from the top, and giggled as we watch a Chinese father-son duo take selfies and another Chinese couple attempt to take jumping photos but lacking the athleticism of coordinating all aspects of the photo.

But really, we were stoked to get to Abel Tasman, so Nelson will definitely have to be explored more fully in the future!

The Sounds… a heavenly ferry ride

The Wellington-Picton Ferry is about three hours and we were fortunate to have a calm crossing of the Cook Strait. Upon later analysis, Scott’s mum told me that it can be one of the most difficult crossings in the world in bad weather. The highlight of this [other than watching Kiwi women get irritated as their Kiwi men kept their eyes glued to the cricket match playing in the lounge televisions] was the Marlborough Sounds. No words, just pictures.

Welcome to the Kiwi Kapital… Wellington

So after a rather hectic, yet hilarious, drive [we had an epic mission to get marmite to put on our corn crisps with avocado… yum I swear AND had to bypass several cafes for serving what Scott deemed inferior coffee, the “Robert Harris” brand], we arrived in Wellington!

We checked into our hostel [a dorm room that smelled strongly of sweaty feet… cool] and ambled down to the waterfront in search of a beer. We decided on Mac’s BrewBar because they had a DJ outside right in front of the wharf. However, because the wharf is considered public space, there was a team of servers who’s job it was to “ferry” customers beers to their tables on the wharf. We ordered the Green Beret IPA and the Bohemian Pilsner.

Scott had been looking up shows all day so we decided on the ultimate hipster show at the San Francisco Bathhouse [okay the name of the venue contributed to why we chose the show] featuring, Awesome Tapes of Africa.  It was entertaining, but we were so wiped from our drive and the epic Japanese hot stone dinner [so much for our attempt to have a vegetable-y dinner] that we left fairly early.

And thank golly goshkins we did, because our roommates loudly speaking in German waked us up at the crack of dawn. We decided to have a calm day touring the Te Papa museum learning about the history and ecosystems of New Zealand. The museum was extremely well organized and had incredible views of the harbor. We fit in one last round of beers before we head off to the Wellington Ferry to begin our tour of the northern part of the South Island.

The difference between something that reminds you of home and something the should remind you of home…

(1) IPA… where is? Oh THAT is what Kiwis think an IPA is… Let’s just say, I am going to have to wait until I come home before something “hoppier” comes into my life. I also asked a bartender while all the beers had such low alcohol contents considering the types of beers they were (in the USA, stouts do NOT have a 4% alc content). His response? “Well, Kiwis like to drink, so if we make the alcohol contents lower, they can drink as much as normal without getting completely smashed.

(2) Home Depot… okay so in NZed it is called “Mitre 10”, but wowzers did I feel like I had been transported back to the Home Depot in San Rafael when Scott and I were in a pinch [in Scott’s eyes… a catastrophe in mine].

(3) Avocados… At least all the Kiwis I know eat as many avocados as the average Californian. EXCEPT, they also eat it with Marmite/Vegemite. And, I'm not going to lie, I really like it!

(4) Juicing… yeah they do that here too! Beet juice with ginger cures all ills!

Road Trip: Napier aka the “Art Deco Capital of New Zealand”

We began our road trip by heading west through the Taupo region with a final destination of Napier, also know as the Art Deco Capital of NZ. [Unfortunately for Scott, I kept hearing something else which is not appropriate for this blog every time he said “art deco”!] Taupo was rather overcast but we wandered around the lake before deciding on Thai food for lunch. We were a smidgeon disappointed by the Thai food as it was neither salty nor spicy enough for our liking; but some soy sauce and hot sauce cured our noodles of all ills!

One we made it to Napier, I was trying to figure out why I kept feeling like I had seen the city before. While walking through the streets [which were eerily Santa Monica-4^th Street Promenade-like] I realized that Napier had taken full advantage of the “Art Deco” gimmick, reminding me of Main Street in Disneyland. Regardless, we found an Irish Pub [yes shocker I know], named the “Brazen Head”, where a very kind bartender advised us on the best place to buy fish and chips while we sipped our Mac’s Brewery Three Wolves Lager.

We checked into our campground at the Westshore Holiday Park and set up our tent. We head off on a walk to the Hawke’s Bay Seafood Company to get some fish ‘n’ chips to enjoy on the beach with some New Zealand craft beer. Unfortunately for us the girl completely screwed up our order giving as LOADS of potato wedges instead of the LOADS of fish we requested. Regardless we enjoyed the black sand beach and our meal of entirely fried food.

That night at the campsite, I pretended to be five years old as a jumped on the giant campground trampoline while making fun of Scott for missing the weight cutoff by five kilos. We made friends with the campground kitty cat and decided to knock out early. Our sleep was interrupted by the violent vomiting of man in the bathroom that the receptionist lady had, with only good intentions, placed our campsite near.

Low stress… we woke up shortly after the sun rose up (~7am), put on our suits and sprinted to the beach. We were the only people swimming in the weird, “pulsing”, long-lasting Napier surf. As soon as we had our fill of swimming, we packed up and hit the road so we could make it to Wellington by the early afternoon.