The next day we ventured out on to Farewell Spit which is an impressive 35km long sand dune jutting out into the Tasman Sea. Parts of it were like walking in a desert landscape - both surreal and beautiful at the sane time. Although the surreal elements may have in part been enhanced by the throbbing collective hangover we were all experiencing after consuming all those local wines! A fabulous meal at the wonderful Mussel Inn certainly cured some of the ails and it has to be said the hippies have done well in taking over this beautiful part of the country!
We then ventured south to the Abel Tasman National Park and did a days chunk of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track (another of the 'Great walks'). It was indeed a walk and it was indeed great - beach after stunning beach all slightly different in outlook and colour. Numerous swims in the sea were taken and we also some slightly interesting river crossings to add to the adventure and the campsite next to Totaranui Bay was fabulous although don't be deceived by the innocuous looking road - its epic!
It was a pleasure to have Mij and Derek along for a few days but they had their own adventures in store so we made the most of our last night with them staying in a teeny tiny cabin in a campsite near Takaka. The general atmosphere of our abode was further enhanced by the bean and wine induced, er, smells and a rousing play of the AC/DC greatest hits album courtesy of Derek's laptop...it made a nice chance from the Fleetwood Mac CD which was the only decent music we were able to play in the rental car for the last month!
Jaryn and I continued our tramping adventures by deciding it would be nice to have a treat and stay in a place in the Marlborough Sounds recommended in the Rough Guide. It involved a delightful walk along the Queen Charlotte Track down into a fabulous secluded bay only accessible on foot or by boat. The Lochmara Lodge was a great place, not too expensive (probably because of its inaccessibility!) with a great restaurant where we had a great evenings banter with the waitress and chef Simone and Martin who themselves were slowly travelling the world. After a mornings kayaking in the bay and having a shallow conversation with the talking parrot (that also had an entertaining repertoire of car alarm noises and mobile phone ringtones!) we had to be on our way.
We headed over to Picton for the ferry to Wellington under glorious sunshine with just the return leg of this beautiful ferry journey to get to the north island and moreorless end my trip. Naturally New Zealand had one last treat in-store in the form of an epic sea storm which bowled the ferry around like a beach ball and also resulted in me losing most of my dinner over the side of the boat on a couple of occasions. You would be forgiven for thinking that the 30 or so people lined up along the handrail on the side of the boat were looking out to see at the lovely scenery or at whales or something - well in fact it was like some kind of scene out of a horror movie with synchronized puking. Kind of funny afterwards but took most of the following day of wandering aimlessly around Wellington to recover from that! Jaryn headed north today to see Bruce Springsteen play in Auckland - you can imagine how happy he was about that! :)
Watch this space for the final, reflective blog posts from this amazing journey in some amazing places meeting some wonderful people...but for now my 34 hour journey home awaits :).
