New Zealand Adventures: Abel Tasman and Wellington

After we completed the glacier hike we got back in the car and drove to Greymouth. Greymouth is another place that no one really goes to unless they have to. And really, it was a 2 hour drive after a long day of hiking and we were really tired. We arrived at the hostel, cooked dinner and went to bed. The next morning we packed up the car again and went on a brewery tour at the Monteith's factory. I am not a big fan of beer, or brewery tours but the boys were into it so that was fun to see. They gave us samples of all their beers (7) and a glass of our choice after we had tasted each sample. Since I don't really like beer and Eoin had to drive, Mike got most of mine and Eoin's. After the tour we got back into the car and drove up to Marahau, the top of the south island, where the Abel Tasman Coastal Track is located.

The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is a 3 -5 day walk along an incredibly scenic section of beaches. To get to the end of the track you have to do the five day walk, so by doing the three day walk we got a little more than half-way on the track. We did the hike in three days, because (if you remember), I really hate hiking. But this one wasn't actually so bad. For the most part it was fairly flat with a few steep uphill climbs that wouldn't have been bad if I didn't have a backpack on. The best part was definitely the views and the various beaches along the way. We had beautiful, sunny warm weather the entire time and it was so nice to relax on the beach after walking for a few hours. While I was relaxing in the warm sun, Eoin and Mike went off exploring the beaches. The climbed on giant rocks, explored some caves and caused mayhem wherever they went. We spent our nights camping out in our tents just a few yards from the shore. It was like having one of those sound effect machines but 100 times better because it was real waves. Very relaxing! When we finished our section of the hike we waiting for a water taxi to pick us up and bring us back to the start of the track, where our hostel was and where we had left the car. We changed into normal clothes (we had been in polypro/dirty shorts for the hike) and drove off towards dinner and Picton. We ate a delicious dinner of KFC and McDonald's. Yummm?

After filling up on processed meat and deep fried potatoes we drove on to Picton, where our ferry to Wellington would leave the following morning. Our night in Picton was SO exciting. We showered and went to sleep. Jealous? We woke up early and got on the ferry by 8 AM and arrived in Wellington by 11:30. We dropped our stuff off at our friends, Jason and Tammy, house and took Mike on a bit of a walking tour of Wellington. I stopped in Glassons to say hi to the girls and then we went to a few of the book shops downtown.

The next day was definitely more exciting, Eoin and Mike went out to explore for a while I stayed back and worked on stuff for school. When I had finished my school work, I met the boys downtown and we walked through the botanical gardens.We took the cable car up and walked down the main walkway and back through down via Lambton Quay. Once again, I popped into Glassons (it's an addiction) and bought a nice coat. THANKS MOM!After I had my fun shopping, we went to Te Papa and did the abridged tour. We took Mike to our personal favorite parts of the museum and by dinner time we had made good use of our time. Dinner was a delicious meal from our personal favorite Fish n Chips place, Leo's. Tammy and I were girly girls and stayed in to watch Project Runway, but the boys went out and ran amok in downtown Wellington. The next morning was our last day in town, and we spent it packing up and eating as much Nando's as possible. Nando's is a Portuguese chicken restaurant that Eoin and I love more than anything, it is SO GOOD. Anyway, after eating we got back into the car and drove 5 hours to Taupo. Taupo is where Eoin was planning to sky dive.

Next time I will write about Rotorua, Auckland and Whangerei!Thanks for checking in everyone.