New Zealand is incredible. Despite the abundance of positive propaganda that seems to permeate the globe, it somehow manages to exceed your expectations.
Just when you think you’ve seen the most spectacular view in the country, you round another bend and find something completely different and just as astonishing (thus necessitating another bevy of photographs…).
Our tour picks up again in Nelson. Where, after a quick stop at the Christ Church Cathedral,
And the roadside Thai food vendor.
We needed to find a place to sit down and hammer out an itinerary for the two and a half weeks that my parents will be with us in January.
We weren’t sure where to go.
So we picked to the most logical spot…
…another quirky little brewpub.
Little did we know that we were going to end up smack in the middle of the Nelson Ukulele Band’s weekly rehearsal.
Ciel was right into it. Suddenly, one beer turned into eight and the next thing we knew we had Rita enrolled in the knife-making and axe throwing course in Barrytown, and Billy and Ciel signed up for 8-hour “all-you-can-bungee jump” sessions in Queenstown. They’re gonna love it!
From there we headed off to Abel Tasman National Park, which is famous for it’s many “tramps” (hiking trips). Ciel was gung ho to head off on a 4-day tramp into the wilderness.
Unfortunately, since she wasn’t willing to carry any of her 120 kilos of gear, she was vetoed. We opted for the 3-hour day trip instead.
First we hopped in an aqua taxi for a ride up the shoreline to Bark Bay,
Past “Split Apple Rock”.
Then we hiked our way back along the coast to Torrent Bay.
Ciel almost managed to stay awake for the whole trek.
Her favourite part was killing time on the rope swing waiting for the return taxi.
There certainly has been no shortage of swing bridges in our travels. Ciel loves a good swing bridge. So far this trip her tally is up to four. She’s hoping to reach double digits before we get out of New Zealand. We hit up the country’s longest (110m) in the Upper Buller Gorge Scenic Reserve.
Where we also did a little more hiking.
We're so hardcore with our Baby Bjorn and Birkenstocks...
And Brittster and I braved the extreme “Supaman” (apparently they couldn’t afford the copyright) zip line.
We’re now working our way down the northwest coast.
Pretty drab, really.
Today we stopped and saw the pancake rocks,
Before finishing off the day…
…with a brewery tour.
Cheers!
3 comments:
Incredible ..just incredible scenery..i think New Zealand is the place to go now. I am glad to see you are going to make the most of your parents time with you. Very good choices of activities for them... Its amazing what ideas you can come up with when beer is involved. (it happens here at home on occasion, lol)
cask ale...I'm impressed.
Ah! Some places I've been! Kayaking around Split Apple and to the Pancake Rocks! Very fun!
LOVE the photo of Luke and Ciel swinging on the rope! And so exciting to have Mr and Mrs B coming out! Yipee! Can't wait to see them through your blog! ; )
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