South is great

The last three days (maybe four days, i don't know, i lose track) have been so great. The ferry from wellington to picton went pretty smooth from talking to others. I spent half the time at the back of the boat talking with two people from the UK and an older couple from california. The last hour i stood at the front of the boat, leaned back on a wall and just took in the scenery on both sides of the boat. There's definitely something different about the south island. When I arrived in Nelson, there was Thomas, a guy from munich, in my room that i had met in rotorua and lake taupo. So it was like having a good friend already there.

The next day I met up with Katja, a german girl that i also met in rotorua. We did a walk to the "centre of New Zealand." Word on the street is that it isn't the real center of new zealand and that its really 50km away on some mountain, but it works for me. That night we went to a pub with some cool people from her hostel. It was one of those locals only type of places and it was great because they were having a going away party for someone so there were all these snacks and sandwiches on the covered pool table.

The next morning Katja and i took the dang early bus to the abel tasman national park. We didn't really know what we were going to do there, but it ended up a perfect two days of abel tasman. Once again, Thomas the german guy was at the hostel (the fourth time to run into him) The first day we took a boat a good distance into the park. We got dropped off at a beach, walked for a few hours through bush/forrest, had lunch on another beach, and walked for a few more hours to yet another beach. Best part of the day walk was a suspension bridge over a river and a 30 minute rest laying on a rock in the sun at the beach where we were to be picked up. That night we knitted a llama. Yeah, weird, but its what we did.

katja and me in front of the "split apple rock".

The next day we hired a two person kayak and went all over the place. At the end of it, it felt like my shoulders were going to come apart at the joints; but its one of those things that you only remember the great parts (when the pain goes away). The water was a turquose/jade color and the beaches were actually gold color because of the rock in the area.

It was great traveling with Katja, but she left today to go back to germany. I'm in Nelson today, sunburned and exhausted. Its beautiful out there, so there's a hammock out there with my name on it. Today is rest, read, and write day. Tomorrow I'm hoping to meet my great uncle dan, who i hear is a rad guy.

Have a good day,

chad