Post # 4

Wellington to St Arnaud

KM 1733 to KM 1980

247 KM

this bit was tough!

Water taxi ...Picton to Ship's Cove....start of the South Island TA

Goodbye to 'Pickup and dropoff'!

Captain Cook's Monument.....his favorite anchorage in the South Pacific

Trekking the Queen Charlotte Track

Camping / lodging along the Queen Charlotte Track

Havelock / Pelorus Bridge

Green Mussel capital of New Zealand

Why do I hike when I could be doing this??

The 'Richmond Alpine Range' Section

Fellow TA hiker.... USA girl....Florida!

End of the Richmond range - total 8 days - a rough go!

Now the final descent down to St Arnaud and two days of rest!

Out with the old...in with the new

1260 km....not too bad for one pair of boots!

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COACHES CORNER

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The 'Interislander' approaching Picton

Water taxi to Darrell's starting point....Captain Cook's monument 

A pirate if I ever saw one!

The cat was happier than he looks

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A trip up to the Able Tasman and Farewell cape beaches

(reputed to be the best beaches in New Zealand)

A wonderful 'hilltop' hike to the beaches

A seal breeding ground at the base of the rocks

(totally oblivious to humans)

  

Known locally as 'The Split Apple'

(Apparently the rock was split by the sword of Zeus while
battling Neptune over the hand of Dione)

eels.....very common......these are approx. 4-5' long - can grow to 9'

.......still not sure if you can swim with them.

Going by this......I'd say not!

Back to Nelson for the Sunday Anglican service....c/w pipe organ music!....very nice!

A trip to the 'Wow' museum
'Wearable art' and 'Classic cars'

And the cars

Austin 'Canardley'

(as in - canardly get up the hill!

An old Studebaker.....a surprisingly nice car when in 'like-new' shape

A 1928 Cadillac.....The last Cadillac to be built with no cost restrictions!

............A gorgeous car!

My all time favorite....the 1936 front wheel drive Cord.....would not seem out of place today!

And back to reality!

Some awesome hiking around St. Arnaud....Mt Roberts

And Lake Rotoiti below

Until the next post!

Post # 3

Wanganui to Wellington

km 1402 to km 1733

331km

At the south end of the North Island - 'Wellington'

Early morning on the Wanganui river - the 'Waimarie' paddle wheeler
.........A beautiful start to a glorious day!..........

And a shitty finish!.....pissing rain!....waiting for a ride!

OK again by morning....Santoft forest walk.

Beach by Koitiata..... painful ....wind driven sand!

 A kiwi Christmas tree......
Toss them on the ground and you're a low life...
Hang them on a tree and you're a hero!...go figure!

A road walk to 'Palmerston North'... northern California anyone!

City hiking along the 'Manawatu' river.

Climbing back into the mountains -
first day of four in the outback

And the first night ....so far so good!

Second day of four in the outback......

Second half of the second day of four.......this sucks!

still the second half of the second day....couldn't take it!
...bailed to town for a venison burger and a  motel

Finished the hike along the beach......much better

Back on the trail at the escarpment trail
popularly known as the 'Stairway to heaven'
Only 10 km and 1480 more steps to go!

Nice reward at the end.... thanks to a young Kiwi entrepreneur....
 a $2 lemonade with a couple of Belgian TA hikers.

" Bite me! "

Final descent into Wellington.
The end of this leg in sight!

That's it....can't go any further here......done!

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COACHES CORNER

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Sunshine with Darrell in 'Bulls'

'Bulls' city.......pun capital of the world

check out the sign!

The beach at 'Otaki' ...cold and wet but ever optimistic......

....life guard station up and running and ready to go!

This is for real...a genuine 'Maori' electric guitar

(well at least it was made by a genuine 'Maori')

Open and all will be revealed!

And so it was!

 Yin and Yang......small and large.....Kayak out.....Tour boat in!

(I assume they have a good reason for doing it this way)

A toast to our commercial kitchen.......they allowed us to use it to make dinner

Us on the 'Stairway to heaven' -

part of the Te araroa trail

Complete with at least 1500 steps!

Highway and rail line below 

Our kind of sign......options!! ...... Which will it be?

.....walk back or take the train back?

Actually a no-brainer......Train it is!

Outside of Wellington.........Waiting for Darrell.....Again!

Downtown Wellington.....Hostel row.....home for two nights

(think of Gas Town, Vancouver)

Kind of institutional inside.....and disappointing

bunk beds....hot rooms...no A/C...no windows....

But as Darrell says " We were put on this earth to suffer!"

Goodbye Wellington .....boarding the 'Interislander'

Next stop........

South Island!

Till the next post!