Nelson, Blenheim, Picton over Christmas!!

I’m almost done with the south island, just few more days to see around before taking the ferry to Wellington.
I spend Christmas in nelson with some friend I made in the backpackers and on Abel Tasman track. That was really nice!!

 Then I get around Blenheim that is very famous for its wine, specially the sauvignon blanc. So I went to see few wineries that were nice. Then get to Picton, the small town where the ferry to wellington start.

It’s in the middle of Marlborough sounds a very nice area with again some awesome scenery, I just spend a days around then jump on the ferry to wellington!!

Walking again, 4 days in Abel Tasman

After 2 days relaxing, waiting for a good weather and preparing my stuff to go on the track, I finally start the track, it’s supposed to rain for the last two days, and my tent is not good for rain, but I go anyway.
I start walking around 9:30 AM for my first days walking that was the longest, with 6h walking, and that was really amazing, nice scenery, with some nice cliff and perfect beach.

I arrived to my first camp site just for the low tide in the evening as the camp site was accessible only at low tide.

The next day was really nice, still perfect weather and only 4 hours walking from perfect beaches to perfect beaches and` also going through nice inland tracks
Arrive in a big campsite just next to a nice beach, and meet few nice people, so we spend the evening next to the fire playing many card games, there were some German, Spanish kiwis and me, so we play games specific to each countries that was really nice!!

 The third day it supposed to rain all day, but the weather was actually very good, mostly sunny with just some cloudy periods, so continue walking again about 4 hours very nice but it kind of repeating itself, walking along awesome beaches, then a bit inland to go to the next beach, then crossing a bay that accessible only at low tide… always a bit like that, but always awesome !!! Spend the night again next to the beach.

The last day, was supposed to be still raining, but again still mostly sunny, didn't see any rain so that was really cool.

First I went to Cleopatra pool that wasn't too far it just down the river some nice pool with very cold water. Then I start walking toward the end, stopping on few beach to swim a bit, cool down and relax. 

And funny story, when I was arriving close to the end of the tracks I was thinking about the way to reach the next town. At at this time I heard in French ”what are you doing here you ???”  That was Elodie, a friend that I met in Auckland and that was living in Wanaka, she was visiting around with her parents, that was really cool to catch up randomly like that and gives me a ride to Motueka a small town close by!!

It will be Christmas in few days, so I spend the night there and head to Nelson that is a bit bigger city!!

in Golden bay !!

So after the long walk to reach Collingwood, I finally arrived in golden bay on the far north of the south island. After a nice night in a reel bed to recover from the walk, I get a bicycle with the hotel I was staying in Collingwood and ride more north to reach farewell spit. It's a very long band of sand that separate the west coast from golden bay and Tasman bay. The scenery around there was really nice and with a perfect weather so I went there to see around for few hours.

I get back not too late so I decided to go kayaking in the area around as the hotel was offering free kayak as well.

So in four days I walk 82km, bicycle 50km and few hours of kayak. Now it’s time to relax a bit before going on abel tasman tracks, the weather forecast is not too bad for the next few days so that will be perfect to relax.

On the heaphy track

So after a short and nice stay in karamea, it’s time to start walking. My bag is a bit heavy with all my stuff plus the food for 4 days but it’s still very nice to walk around.
The first day I started around 1pm and walk for about 5h  along the west coast to reach the campsite just next to the beach, it was really nice place, except for all the sand-flies and mosquitoes that were way too many in there.

2nd day the weather wasn't very good, a lot of cloud and a little bit of rain sometimes.
It was about 9h walking that day to go inland going up the hill slowly to reach a nice place in the middle of nowhere,

The next morning I wake up with a perfect weather. And as it’s a bit higher and not directly on the coast, there wasn't any sand-flies or mosquitoes, it was really cool.
That day I walk for a while on the plateau then going down the hill to reach the end of the track.
I was supposed to spend the night there and then find a way to reach Collingwood, the closest town on the other side. But I find a lift to Collingwood directly so I went there directly!

The track is supposed to be done in 4 days 3 nights, some people do it in 5 days, and I should have done the same, it was a bit too much walking 9hours each days, I couldn’t enjoy everything around, but it was still a very nice hike !!

Going to the north of west coast

After leaving Arthur’s pass, I stop in Greymouth a small town next to the sea, I walk along the coast line for 3 hours and then hitch hike again to get to Punakaki to see “the pancakes rock” that is a nice place to see, then continue my way up to Westport to think about what to do next !!

I finally decided to do one of New Zealand great walks, that is a 4 days hike from the north of the west coast to golden bay, that is north of the south island.

So the next day I went to Karamea that is a very small town, only 600 people, mainly famers, it’s the most north town on the west coast. Spend a night there and the next day, I start the track beginning of the afternoon.

In Karamea I stayed in a place that I really loved and that match exactly with some idea I have in mind. It’s a permaculture farm and a backpacker’s hotel with more accommodation in the farm. The people there were really nice, and it was a really good feeling to stay there. They want to open a small restaurant only for the people staying in the backpacker and on the accommodation they have next to the farm. The restaurant would be very simple with only one choice a day on the menu depending on what’s comes out of the farm. To avoid any food waist and keep only very local organic fresh food.

Also the policy of the place is to be carbon neutral and compensate for the carbon emission of the people coming to the area from foreign places.

I really loved that place unfortunately as it is necessary to book for the heaphy tracks that I was about to do, I couldn’t stay longer there. even booking only one day in advance it’s still too much to stay really free to do whatever I want …

In Arthur’s pass, on my way back on west coast

Now that I have seen what left of Christchurch I’m going back on west coast and decided to stay one night in Arthur's pass that is about halfway between both coast. The scenery around there is really nice!!

But before getting there I had a small stop in castle hill, a small area on the way with lots of big rock that stand there naturally, and make beautiful scenery!!

It’s also a very famous place for climbing, unfortunately I still have a finger broken and don’t have any equipment with me so I couldn’t do a lot of climbing around.


So after spending some time wondering around and climbing some small and easy rocks I take my hitch hiking panel again to get to Arthur’s pass

I end up staying in a very small a nice “backpackers” only one 8bed room and a big living room/kitchen, but no one stay there to managed everything, just a phone in the entrance to talk to the guy that run it and a safe box called “honesty box” to put the money, the guy on the phone just give you the code for the doors and all basic information, and you just have to put the money on the box. The place is also an internet café that work with the same honesty box, you can go and use the computer as you want, you just have to put the money in the box to pay for it.
After a night in there, I went for a day walk up to avalanche peak, supposed to be 6 to 8h walk, but I reach the summit after only 2h and it took me just 1.5h to get down. The walk up there was really nice with some walk on snow to reach the top and an amazing view over all the area.

I spend some times playing with some kea’s that was wondering around.

After that walk I finally decided to stay one more night in the Sanctuary as I really liked the place and it was really cheap and continue up to the west coast the next morning!!

In Christchurch, between two rainfall

After spending the morning waiting for a weather a bit more hitch-hiking friendly, I finally made my way to Christchurch, I get picked up in a big campervan with 7 people from Hong Kong that was a very cool trip and once in Christchurch the weather was much better :)

Unfortunately last time my sister went in Christchurch I don’t know what she did there but few weeks later the city was completely destroyed. So went I get there I was expecting to see some ruins and many mark of the earthquake that hit the city almost 2 years ago. But I wasn’t expecting that much damage!! I was really surprised to see how bad the situation is!!

The entire city center is desert, and a big part of it is closed to public!! A lot of buildings have been completely removed already and the ones still standing are being destroy by huge excavators. They didn’t start rebuilding yet.

They did build an small shopping area called the Re start. It’s just many shops build very quickly with containers, after the earth quake to have some place for shopping around. It’s really nicely done!!

 But except that in the city, there aren’t many things to do. I went for a day in a small town called Akaroa about 2h south of Christchurch, the area is supposed to be really nice. So I left from Christchurch very early with a nice sun outside. Unfortunately I didn’t check the weather forecast and when I reach halfway it was raining a lot. So I went in a cafe to wait for the rain to stop or calm down a bit, as hitch hiking under the rain is not fun and much more difficult to get picked up when you are wet… But after a bit more than one hour the rain was still as bad, so I continue my journey to Akaroa under a big rain. I finally reach the town but the weather was still awful and forecasted to be the same all day and maybe the next day too. So I just walk a bit around and get back to Christchurch.

That was a really useless and very wet day, but that’s part of the trip.

Next step will be to go back on west coast with a stop in Arthur’s pass for enjoying the nice scenery around there!!!

In the glacier on west coast

So after mount cook with a vegetation rather dry, I get on the other side of the mountain just on west coast, it is very cool to see how different it is just on the other side of the mountain. The vegetation here is rain forest, very green heaps of huge trees, foam and fern trees everywhere!!

So I stayed 3 days in franz josef to see the glacier around.

The first day I went to see franz josef glacier but we couldn’t get close enough to see the glacier correctly and there was a lot of cloud so I was a bit disappointed. However I did find a trail for a hike going on the hill on the side of the glacier, so I decided to do that tramp before leaving to have a better view of the area.

The next day I went to fox glacier which is 15-30 min away by hitch hiking.

I went to see the glacier but like franz josef the track to get in front of the glacier don’t offer a nice view. But there is some other tracks that offer much better view with almost no one on it. I don’t understand why in both glacier heaps of people go on the track that goes in front of the glacier with a very bad view and almost no one goes on the other track that offer much better view…. Anyone it’s better for me, more quiet!!!

Next to fox glacier there is a small lake that supposed to offer an amazing view over the mountains with a perfect reflection on the lake, however once again, very cloudy so couldn’t see anything, so instead of getting there I just took pictures of the posters in the souvenir shops :) 

And for my last day around I did the big hike I’ve seen the first day to get an awesome view over the glacier, the tracks was very nice. I was expecting to spend 5-6h to get there and back, but I manage to do it in about 4h with a 1h break on top. So that was a shorter day than expected but really cool, still a lot of cloud but a bit less than the other days.

So after that I just went take my bag at the hotel and hitch hike to Hokitika a bit more north, by the time I get there it was raining a lot so didn't see much there, but anyway except “jade stones” I don’t think there is much to see there.

The next day the weather was awful all around so I decided to go directly to Christchurch...