SOUTH ISLAND, Chapter I

 Words cannot describe this beautiful, intoxicating, idyllic South Island justice so I am going to document most of this trip with pictures but I will have to write about some parts as we had some great adventures that we want to share. We headed out of New Plymouth and drove South to Wellington to catch a car Ferry that would take us to the South Island. Going to the South Island has been at the top of our "to do list" so we were super excited about this road trip. 

Interislander is the New Zealand ferry service that crosses the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The 92km , 3 hour journey between Wellington and Picton is one of New Zealands Iconic tourist experiences  and one of the most spectacular cruises in the world. The Ferry  reminded me of a small cruise ship. It had restuarants, bars,  private cabins, gift shop, Movie Theatre, and a play ground.

Marlborough Sound

Picton

 Our first stop on this journey was Nelson. Nelson is known for it's glistening golden sand beaches, turquoise crystal clear water, alongside alpine meadows and snowy mountain ranges. It is also a a short distance from 3 of New Zealands spectacular national parks and it is the sunniest region in all of NZ. I have heard Nelson compared to a mix of Napa, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. There are Vineyards everywhere and Apple and Pear orchards as far as they eye could see. 

Being a family of 5 we have out grown one hotel room, so a great alternative is Book a Bach. These are kiwi vacation homes that can be rented. They range in cheapo to deluxo. I spent hours finding us bach's to rent on this  road trip, but it was well worth it as we stayed in some amazing places that added to the excitement of being in the road. This one was a quirky little bach that we stayed at for 3 nights in a town just west of Nelson called Mapua. It had two bedrooms and a great loft for the little ones. It sat on about 6 acres and the family had sheep, chickens, cats, a trampoline and swings. It was great, nothing fancy but lots of personality and activities for the kids. 

Wharf at Mapua, which reminded us of somewhere on the coast of New England. It had some fun shops, a great brew pub and tons of character.


ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK

The Abel Tasman National Park (named after the mid-17th century explorer who was the first European to site New Zealand) crowns the top of the South Island with lush green mountainsides that sprout tree ferns everywhere. It's coastline curves in and out around points and bays, protruding like gnarled knuckles on a fist, and several islands with seal colonies rise up in tree and rock covered humps. It is New Zealand's smallest national Park, and offers picturesque sea kayaking and is known for its World famous Abel Tasman Coastal Track. 

The 

Kaiteriteri which is the closest town to Abel Tasman Park and location of the water taxi pick-up for trips into the park. 

The playgrounds in this country do not disappoint and this one had an awesome flying fox that the kids  played on for hours.


The National Park is only accessable by boat or hiking. We felt that Owen and Skyler were too young for Sea kayaking but not too young for a day hike on the Coastal Track (it takes 3 days to hike the whole Abel Tasman Coast Track). We had the water taxi drop us off at Torrent Bay, which is right in the middle of the Park and we hiked for 6.5 miles along the most stunning trail with breathtaking views of the granite coast and lush gullies of Manuka and fern trees back to our designated pick-up point. It was a long day of hiking for the kids (it took us about 4 hrs.) but they did not complain once. Mother Nature was our entertainment for the day and she put on one hell of a show!! The yummy Sweets that we brought along also came in handy, nothing like a little sugar buzz to help with the last few miles of the hike. 

Water Taxi

Start of our hike

A longest swinging bridge we had ever been on (until later in the trip)

Cleopatra's Pool -a great side hike that we managed to talk the kids into and was worth the extra 30 minutes. 

Owen looking out at our Pick-up spot for the Water Taxi




After our full day of hiking we decided to go and treat ourselves at the Local Microbrewery and try some of their famous tacos. It was Friday night and the locals were out enjoying the lively band that was playing at the Wharf. The place was packed but I somehow managed to get us a table. As we were sitting down there was a gentlemen off to the side that looked like he needed somewhere to sit and eat his tacos. We scored a big table but because the kids were outside collecting crabs Brad and I were only using 2 of the chairs. I asked this gentlemen if he would like to share our table and he quickly sat down and struck up a conversation. He and Brad quickly started talking Rugby and then we started to tell him about our road trip and where we were headed. We told him how much we were enjoying Mapua and that we wanted to stay another night but the bach we were renting was not available and I had yet to book us somewhere else to stay. Well this kind gentlemen, David, owned a B&B and offered us to come and stay with him the following night. He is seperated from his wife and he just sold the B&B, and was moving out the following week. But because he had 3 extra bedrooms that were not being used and we had a family of 5 with no where to sleep he offered his place to us free of charge. So the next morning we drove over to David's B&B, which was called Rosie's Grove to check the place out. HOLY MOLY, was this place awesome. David had 623 olive trees on the property as well as lemon trees, almond trees, and walnut trees. He had a pond with a family of ducks and 2 chickens. At our previous place the kids were not encouraged to pet or hold the animals. Well once Owen saw David's "chooks" (a kiwi term for chickens) his eyes lit up and he asked David if he could hold one. And, David's response was "Only If you can catch one mate, and I will give you a buck." So not 5 minutes later Owen appears with a HUGE smile on his face and a chook under his arm!!  David  then told us about a Cafe that had wild eels that the kids could feed and they served a delicious breakfast. So off we went to find the eels and explore the area of NZ called Golden Bay.

The View from David's Porch.


We found the sign for The Jester House that says "Cafe and Tame Eels."  We crossed a footbridge and got a glimpse of the slithering, sleek things in the stream below-dozens of them intertwined and flopping about. My kids were totally enchanted with these eels and not the least bit grossed out. Lindsey ran to buy a cup of eel food (chopped up raw chicken), and I went to find us a table. The Cafe is set in a garden that looks lifted from a children's story book, with play things such as oversized chessboards and teeter-totters. One table was inlaid with a hand carved Chutes and Ladders game, but it pictured eels instead of chutes. Brad and I have noticed as we travel around NZ that this country caters to kids. The playgrounds are amazing and many of the cafe's have playgrounds or some other activity for children to engage in. I love it that the concept of play structures at resturants has spread beyond McDonald's in New Zealand. I went down to the stream to watch the kids feed the eels. Lindsey and Skyler were luring the eels like snake charmers by using the food on the end of the stick. Sure enough, these fish squirmed out of the water, opening and shutting their mouths in a silent motion. They looked like evil sock puppets dipped in slime.

So after the excitement of the eels we got into the car and headed north to an area of New Zealand called Golden Bay. Golden Bay is nestled into the South's north-west corner. A chain of steep and rugged mountains cuts it's fertile river plains and valleys from the rest of the island. Unless your a migrating whale, you don't go past Golden Bay on your way to anywhere. The lifestyle of Golden Bay has always been "alternative"-a hideout for hippies, musicians, and artists. 

The view on the drive over. Notice the mtns. in the background, it was beautiful!!

I was trying to be artsy fartsy in this photo, and I think it worked!!

The kids loved these "rock" tunnels. 

We did not get to see any penguins in Golden Bay, but they are common in the area. 

The Golden white sand was a nice change from the Black beaches of Taranaki. 

These two pictures are of the Te Waikoropupu Springs (try and say that 10 times as fast as you can). This is the Largest Spring system in the Southern Hemisphere, and the clarity of the water is second only to the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. Brad and I have noticed that the trail system in this country are second to none. We are continually amazed at how well maintained the trails are kept. 

Next we are headed to the Wild West  Coast to explore places like Pancake Rocks, and Buller Gorge and then head over  to Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, and then back up the coast to Kaikoura.