Nelson!

We are staying at the highest rated BBH in Nelson at the moment (but still cheaper than four of the other places we've stayed at). It is really great especially since Wireless Internet is free to use. So I will finally be able to tell you what have happened the last couple of days.

Before leaving Bank's Peninsula we went for a long walk out on this volcanic remain in the middle of the Akaroa caldera. The weather was beautiful so Y even went for a swim. We planned to go all the way to Lake Tekapo on the 10th but ended up in Methven which is situated a few hours north of LT. There was to much to see along Rakaia river so we didn't have time to drive any further. Our stay in Methven wasn't to exciting, but at least breakfast was included in the price for the YHA.

On the 11th we continued our drive south. The big adventure for the day was the hike pretty much straight up a hill. I think it was about 1 km straight up into the sky. It took us about an hour. What was kind of funny with that walk was that when we got half way we saw this car parking in the car park below and before we new it we had this jogger passing us. He ran straight up the hill!!! At least the view was amazing when we got to the top!Finally we managed to get to Lake Tekapo. The hostel wasn't that nice though, but we met the first couple of Swedes on this trip (we didn't really hang out thought). The next day we probably found the best excursion locale on the whole trip. Mt John by Lake Tekapo. From the top of Mt John you could get a good view of the glacial processes that had been at work in the area as well as the fluvial processer that have been at work since the last ice age.

From Mt John we drove all the way to Wanaka. To get some excitement into the car we actually picked up a French hitchhiker that was going in the same direction. We didn't stay at the same place in Wanaka at last time and I don't know if the place we chose was that much better, but at least we got our separate toilet and shower this time. We decided after this night to only pick small places to stay at since those usually are more cozy (e.g. the hostel at Barry's Bay).

Before driving over Haast Pass (again) to the west coast we made a little de-tour (again). This time to Mt Aspiring National Park. We couldn't get all the way at first though since we didn't want to push our little Mazda over a deep ford. After some convincing from another car driver we made the swim over the ford with our Mazda. We didn't do the whole walk when we finally reached the parking lot though to a valley where there supposedly would be Kea-parrots. We were quite happy with our lunch stop though with a great view of Mt Ansted.

It took us about six hours to get where we wanted to stay for the night (Okarito). It was really worth the long drive. What a wonderful place. We couldn't see much of it at first though, since we arrived in the dark. Okarito is a small west coast village just 25 minutes from Franz Joseph glacier. It was difficult to find the hostel in the dark though especially since there were no one else staying in the hostel in it had a self check in system. The hostel used to be a small school until 1945. It only had 12 beds in two separate rooms. You could really hear the Tasman Sea through the night. This picture is from the morning after. Is it not just too cute? CAMILLA!!! I you read this we left a message for you in the guest book. Even if you are staying in a camper there is a camp site just one minute away which we recommend, and since it is a very open hostel you could always walk in and read what we wrote!

Before leaving Okarito which we wasn't to keen on we walked along the beautiful beach for quite some time looking at coastal processes of course. We could see both headlands, sand dunes and lagoons. During the drive along the west coast the weather changed from sunshine to rain which shouldn't be surprising since it rains a lot on the west coast. So we got the see the Pancake Rocks in a drizzle. We didn't mind though since we both spotted penguins and Y spotted dolphins (I was not too sure it was really dolphins though).

We spent the night in the middle of no where on a farm in a place called Inan..hua Junction or something. It was an alright stay even though we didn't appreciate all the flies.

Yesterday the weather was crappy. We had sunshine for about 5 minutes. We were able to find a very small hot spring that Y was very keen on trying out. It was not the best experience though since the place was full of sand flies. That's why Y is only in with her feet and wearing a mosquito hat. Before we left the hot spring we had to kill probably 30 to 50 sand flies in the car. And all through the day we killed a lot more than that.

Since the weather was bad we didn't get much done since we couldn't see much. So we headed of the the coastal town of Nelson where we are planning to sum up our experience today. We are staying at the Bugs (bil=bubbla) BBH where everything is surrounding the bug. We are staying in the Love Bug...but at least we got our own room! We even got chocolate on our bed...guess the shape of the chocolate - bug shaped of course. And they have egg cups formed as bugs too!

Tomorrow we are taking the ferry to the North Island! We will certainly miss the South Island.

Remember 100 is not the target!!!