Golden Bay

By -

Thursday I drove up to Golden Bay staying the night north of
Collingwood in an Eco friendly backpacker. Found the most amazing
beach all the way on top called Wharariki Beach - all sand dunes and
every rock in the water has a hole making for beautiful pictures. Only
very few people here.

Friday I went to the north end of Abel Tasman to take a 19k hike to
Seperation Point for some close seal encounters - can't wait to share
the pictures. Most roads up here end up being dirt roads.

Saturday I stopped at the Te Waikoropupu springs - the clearest fresh
water springs in the world. Spending the remainder of the day back on
the beach mentioned above. Friday and Saturday night I stayed in Takaka.

Today I drove to Greymouth as stopping point to the Glaciers. Tomorrow
will be a full day at Fox glacier before heading south to Wanaka,
Queenstown and Milford Sound.

Time is getting a bit tight again and I will probably have to speed
things up again. So much to see - 6 weeks turns out to be way to
short. Need at least double the time.

Cell phone reception is not very good here - hence the large breaks in
blog updates.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nelson

By -
Image
Turns out a couple of my emails did not make it to the blog. Saturday I drove from Coromandel via the Waitomo Caves, where they have glow worms unique to this part of the world, to Rotura. Rotura has several Maori Tribes and shows. I went to Te Puia on Sunday where they also have mud pools and 2 geysers (picture taken just before a major eruption). Afterwards I drove to Taupo via the Huka Falls and stayed the night in Turangi. Monday I drove through the Tongariro National Park and stopped at Mt. Ruapehu (Mordor in Lord of the Rings). Since it was cloudy and limited visibility I drove on to Wellington. Catching up with today I took a 14k hike from Tonga to Torrent Bay via Bark Bay - all in Abel Tasman National Park. This was probably the most amazing hike I have taken outside of Alaska. A water taxi dropped me off and picked me up at the end of the day. Tomorrow I will drive to Collingwood at Golden Bay for some relaxation. Nelson is completely booked tomorrow and is becoming ...
Read more

Fraser Island

By -
Image
Just got back from an awesome 3 day self drive 4x4 camping adventure trip to Fraser Island. Weather was in general good with a few showers inbetween. We had a little storm Saturday night which made it difficult to keep the tents in place - one tent blew away. I did the trip with 13 other fun people in 2 Land Cruisers organized by the backpacker where I stayed. Last day was a highlight spending the day at Lake McKinzie, after we had to drive there through an exit one-way as access was blocked by a tree. There are only few access roads on the island. Driving is done on the beach outside the 2 hour high tide windows - see tire tracks in the picture. Got to Hervey Bay Friday and did the trip Saturday through Monday. Will drive to the Whitsundays next for a 3 day sailing cruise. Expect a couple days to get there.
Read more

Wanaka

By -
Image
Wanaka is good fun. Lots to do and beautiful scenery. Paragliding got cancelled due to high winds - same issue I had in Alyeska a few years back. Will try again Sunday or Monday on my way back from the Fiordland. I went to Rob Roy glacier instead which is a nice steep climb. Can you count the number of waterfalls in the background? I stayed for a few hours and didn't want to turn around - too nice with very few people. Also starting to feel in much better shape after all the hikes recently. Yesterday was the drive from Fox to Wanaka - stopping at Lake Matheson for some great water reflections of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook. Tomorrow will be drive to Te Anau which will be the base for the next 3 days for the Fiordland trips to Milford and Doubtful Sounds. I will stop in Queenstown on the way for a quick look. As with all stops on the South Island I am trying to avoid the overly touristy areas.
Read more