Ringing in the New Year

Picton harbour

Steve and I left the North Island on the afternoon of New Year's Eve and the ferry ride was magnificent. It was strange leaving the big city life of Wellington to arrive at the small sleepy town of Picton, but it seemed to be a busy place that night. When we stopped at the biggest grocer in town for some dinner and weekend supplies, they hardly had a loaf of bread on the shelves! We stayed at Atlantis Backpackers (recommended to us by our former host, Kerry) and it was a colorful place owned by a colorful ex-pat from Michigan. We had a low-key New Year's Eve after a lovely salmon meal, just sharing wine and champagne in our room while we played cards and talked. It made for a really nice New Year's, just the two of us, and proved the advice we got from Malcolm to keep your expectations low for New Year's instead of always being disappointed by a mediocre night.

Mistletoe Bay

In the morning we left Atlantis for the long, curvy drive to an eco-friendly holiday park at Mistletoe Bay along the Queen Charlotte Track. We stopped in Havelock - "Mussel Capital of the World" -  for some groceries and found an awesome op shop (opportunity shop, i.e. thrift store) that funded their local museum. For $5 we left with a bag full of some great camping & cooking gear and some old magazines. Then back through the windy maze to Mistletoe Bay where we were met by Dylan and Amanda for some good ol' camping. Because of the holiday weekend, the place was packed but it was such a beautiful spot that we didn't mind.

We made dinner at our campsite and soon enough our camping neighbors came by to share some of the mussels they had collected from some rocks nearby. They were delicious! Steve tried the biggest one in the pot (almost the size of his fist) and we all heard the big crunch on his first bite- most likely a crab or other creature that had made his way inside. But Steve crunched on out of politeness to our neighbor who chatted us up much of the evening. Afterwards he admitted it was disgusting. I guess sometimes bigger isn't always better! It was a good lesson since the next day we went on a little mussel hunting of our own.

Collecting mussels

We decided to go on a short hike in the morning to kick off our day and did an hour loop along the bay. It was a little harder than usual since a few sections of the trail were completely washed out from recent rains. We came across a Weka (a cheeky, flightless bird that looks a lot like a kiwi, except lacking the long beak), and Steve found a place to pop in the water and grab a handful of mussels to store in our handy Cookietime bucket (earned while busking in Wellington) for dinner later. Steve was beside himself with excitement that we were collecting our own dinner and wondered why anyone would buy mussels when they were everywhere – and FREE! 

After lunch we moved our campsite to the other end of the campground since some people were leaving and we wanted some shade. We rigged up a fabulous shade sail over our blanket between Vinnie (our car), Tranny (their campervan), and some nearby trees. Then we geared up for a longer hike, having no idea what was ahead of us. At first we planned to do another closeby loop but halfway through we took a detour to Hilltop Lookout instead. This was no hilltop according to my body, this was a mountain! It was rough! The rest of the group had much more endurance and stamina and I was constantly left behind, struggling to catch up, and eventually became miserable and pissy, declaring my hatred for New Zealand and my total lack of enjoyment for the experience. I was not a pleasure to be around (sorry about that again guys). Eventually we made it to the top and the view of the sounds was stunning. I didn't find out until about 10 minutes later when I finally caught my breath and dragged myself to my feet again from my collapsed position at the top. It was hard for me to switch to a good mood again after hating life for the past hour but going down was nice and ice cream was waiting for us at the camp store at the bottom. When we got back, Steve made mussel marinara which was yum! Then we all laid in the grass on our blanket looking at the thousands of stars, each of us catching a glimpse of a shooting star or two.

Hilltop Lookout

Steamy pot of mussels

The next day we decided to tackle some of the Queen Charlotte Track – 2&1/2 hours in, stop for lunch, 2&1/2 hours back. I considered staying behind since I didn't want to hold anyone back but Dylan encouraged me to come, promising that we would take it easy. Early on in the hike I made a deal with Steve that either everyone went ahead and I walked alone, at my own pace, or he walked alongside me so I didn't feel like I was constantly holding everyone up and struggling to keep up. He was pretty good about staying with me and I focused on having a positive attitude this time. The hike was really nice. There was a decent amount of uphill but also a good amount of downhill and flat parts, and at the peak of our walk you could see both the Kenepuru Sound and the Queen Charlotte Sound on either side of the mountain. We sat and had tuna sandwiches for lunch as we watched the ferrys float past on the Queen Charlotte Sound and the long rest was much appreciated. After we returned, another ice cream break was in order and Steve, Amanda and Dylan went for a swim to pick up some more mussels for our tapas dinner that night. The sting rays swimming nearby cut their swim a little short, however. The mussels were great with just a drizzle of a local dressing from Wellington called Rocket Fuel.

The next morning we packed up our things early and headed to Christchurch where our good friend from Columbus, Kelley, was due to arrive.  The drive down the east coast of the south island was nice, mostly around Kaikoura where whale-watching is quite popular.  We saw some seals and stopped for a picnic lunch overlooking the Pacific.  When we made it to Christchurch, we stopped at the hostel we planned to stay at the next two nights hoping for some available beds but they were full.  Instead we stayed at a place called the Small Kiwi House, a nice clean hostel with a lot of long-term guests (mostly Asian).  We stayed in a room with an older German guy named Hans who was doing heaps of tramping throughout the south island's most popular tracks: Queen Charlotte, Abel Tasman, Milford and Heaphy.  Hans showed us all of his hiking bits and bobs and told us about how you always want to make sure that the least capable person leads the group on the hike.  That made me feel a lot better about holding everyone else back!

Christchurch Cathedral with Kelley

Our stay there was nice and in the morning we took a quick walk around Christchurch before picking up Kelley at the airport.  Despite all we had heard about Christchurch being sub-par, we both liked it quite a bit.  The old Ennglish architecture mixed with the modern, the bustle of the central square,... it was no Wellington but it was unique and worth exploring!  Around 11am we headed to the airport to pick up Kelley.  We were both really excited and went in to find her.  It was an exciting moment when we finally spotted her and shared some hugs, but it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows since the airline had lost her bag.  We headed to our new hostel and relaxed for a few minutes before heading out for burritos.  It was no Chipotle but it hit the spot as our first Mexican meal in months!  We spent a few more hours exploring the Botanic Gardens before free dinner back at the hotel.  We were all starving by the time dinner at our hostel was ready - sausages, rolls, and salads - not bad for free!!

Driving through Arthur's Pass

The next morning we set out for our long drive back north to Nelson, through Arthur's Pass which Steve was really excited about.  I took a stab at driving so he and Kelley could enjoy the scenery - plus it helped keep my carsickness at bay.  There were plenty of awesome views as we drove through the Southern Alps, although halfway through it started to rain - making driving around the tight curves and steep cliffs more than a little scary.  On the way we stopped for some meat pies and baked goods.  Meat and cheese pies are famous in New Zealand and can be found at every corner dairy, petrol station and regular Kiwi restaurant/cafe.  They're messy and chock full of fat- similar to a chicken pot pie.  Very tasty!  Steve tried the Kiwi staple steak and kidney while Kelley and I shared a mince and cheese.  I topped it off with a mini-boysenberry pie and Steve and Kel had some pastries of their own.  We continued the long drive, stopping for a few pictures along the way until we finally made it to Nelson.

Nelson

The Green Monkey Backpackers in Nelson turned out to be really awesome.  We had our own room with a double bed and a single with a TV and DVD player in our room!  They even had free cake for their guests every night!  After settling in, we headed out to Hell's Pizza to try out the famous NZ pizza joint and it certainly lived up to its reputation!  The next day we picked up Kelley's bag -  which miraculously made it to the Nelson airport - and spent the day exploring the city.  We had lunch at the park and checked out the beach before making the short drive to Tapawera for our next wwoofing experience!