It's ALL Good!

We arrived in Wellington on Dec. 23 after a 9-hour drive from Auckland. Wellington is really a beautiful city, very hilly, magnificent harbor with that boring turquoise water. Ho hum.

Wellington Harbor

On the 24th, we got up early and walked up to Mt. Victoria which has a terrific view of the harbor/city. We then spent about 4 hours at the Te Papa Museum which showcases Maori culture, NZ natural history, European immigrant history and lots and lots of other stuff. For example, we went on an adventure ride in the museum that was like being at Disneyland. You get strapped into a seat that bounces you around and they simulate all kinds of kiwi adventures shown on a screen such as bungy jumping, 4-wheel driving over a sheep farm, grass surfing, mountain biking, glider flying...lots of fun and we were really jostled about. It's a great museum and I could easily go back.

Maori meeting house

We then took a cable car to the top of the Botanic Gardens and walked down back to the city via the gardens that were just beautiful and even passed the Jewish cemetery. yes, in the 1840's, there were about 28 Jews in Wellington! We continued walking along the waterfront back to our motel. Wellington is full of grand public buildings and art work, plazas, places to walk along the water, view spots...really a lot to see and do and one day wasn't enough.

Botanical Gardens

On Christmas Day, we took an early morning car ferry to Picton, a 3-hour trip. A lovely large boat, very calm water, beautiful views (of course). Picton is a small town and on Christmas day, EVERYTHING is closed. I mean EVERYTHING, so we had to bring food with us for all our meals until the 26th. No worries!

Wellington from the Ferry on the way to Picton

Views from the ferry

Picton is situated on the Queen Charlotte Sound and we drove about 10 minutes to Karati Point, a sacred Maori spot and took a short walk down to the water. We then parked our car at our B&B in town and walked along the harbor to Shelley's Beach and Bob's Bay. Again, beautiful views and that boring turquoise water.

Picton harbor

On Dec. 26 we took a water taxi to Torea Bay and hiked part of the Queen Charlotte Track in Queen Charlotte Sound. The 5-hour up and down hike was part forest walk, part ridge walk with amazing views of various bays and sounds. The pictures you're about to see have not been Photo Shopped--honest. The color is real. Wow.

Queen Charlotte Sound

Queen Charlotte Sound

Miles at Queen Charlotte Sound

Our hike ended in Mistletoe Bay and the water taxi picked us up and brought us back to Picton. What a great day!

Mistletoe Bay

Mistletoe Bay Babe

Miles at Mistletoe Bay Babe

On Sun. Dec. 27 we drove up and over the most magnificent mountains to our next destination, Abel Tasman National Park northwest of Nelson onthe northern tip of the South Island. After stopping at Motueka at the helpful I-Site info center and a quick buzz through the nearby farmer's market to pick up some fruit and veggies, we drove through the national part to Totaranui. The mountains were covered in mist. We thought, "Oh well, today will be grey--godd thing we're driving." Well, our luck was with us and it cleared and the view opened up to amazing green valleys and views of the Tasman Bay. We took a fast 1 1/2 hour hike from Totaranui to anapai Bay. Beautiful as always. We then drove back about 2 hours to our lodge situated on the southern entrance to the park. Dinner was at a lovely restaurant nearby with a view of the sea. Ahhh...this is good.

Mon. Dec. 28: We pre-arranged a water taxi to drop us off at on hiking trail at one bay and pick us up at the end of the hike at another bay. (The whole area is full of countless bays and inlets and most are accessible only by boat.) The extra fun of this taxi trip was all 16 of us loaded up in the boat which was on a boat trailer and we were "driven" to the water pulled by a tractor. the tractor then backs us into the water and releases the boat. Part hay ride/part boat ride. No worries!

Aqua Taxi getting into position

Marahau beach near Abel Tasman Park

Split Apple Rock seen from our Aqua Taxi

The hike was about 3 hours long and we waled through beautiful, wet, dense forests along the coast from Bark Bay passing Torrent Bay to Anchorage Bay. The vegetation looked especially bright with all the mosture from the previous evening's rain. Another interesting thing is when the skipper dropped us off, he was very specific where the pick up place was because 4 hours later when he would come, the tide would be really low and the shoreline would look completely different. Many boats would be moored on dry sand. When he means "low", he's serious because it's up to a 4.7 meter (15 feet) tide. We actually were able to walk back acreoss the sand to our pick-up place that was under water during high tide. Weird!