Cook Strait Crossing, Drive To Nelson; Abel Tasman National Park

[to be fleshed out - sadly, Blooger has draft bulletted lists with levels, but posts all levels the same]


February 19, 2010
From Wellington to Picton; Drive to Nelson

• drove to Interislander Ferry Terminal, dropped off June with luggage at terminal, then went in search of Hertz car return
• Hertz does not let you transfer cars between North and South Island, instead you drop the car off at your port of departure, and pick up another one at your port of arrival
• first problem was finding the Hertz parking lot, which, when found, was full, so parked as close as possible in another company's area
• then to find the drop-off office which was a "follow the signs" exercise, with some of the signs not too clear
• eventually found the office, closed, with a note saying they only opened after a ferry had arrived, "please drop your keys into this box, here"
• reluctantly, I did so, hoping that they would eventually find their car
• then to the terminal, to check our luggage, airline style; it gets tagged and thrown onto a belt, and disappears
• our ferry was pullinginto dock, and unloaded with surprising efficiency, given the number of people, cars, and trucks that came off
• then, a long walk, up gangways, onto the Arahura Interislander, and then watch a long line of cars, trucks and a surprising number of motorcycles, almost all Harleys, loading
• departed right on time, and as the weather was dry, if not warm, we could watch from deck
• along with a large number of bikers, men and women, all in leathers, looking very tough, until we learned that they were a New Zealand Harley Club doing an annual two-island tour, and, because of the cost of owning a motorbike like a Harley in New Zealand, they were all doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants and the like, playing at being bad boys, and doing it by staying the nights in the finest hotels along the way
• pulling out of Wellington Harbour, we saw the same scenery of the day before, but from the water
• out in Cook Strait, the ferry route parallels the coast for quite some distance, looking out at steep hillsides, very rough, with no signs of human habitation
• then a turn south (and one is never out of sight of one of the two coasts) and into a channel that leads into Queen Charlotte Soung
• considerable distance inside the sound, again with rugged hillsides and occasional steep cliffs on both sides, but with what appear to be fishing stations, one apparent mussel growing "farm", and eventually as one nears Picton, obvious recreational homes
• on docking in Picton the ferry very quickly offloads, one's luggage is quickly ciculating on a carousel just as in an airport, and within 20 minutes of docking, one is on the way to the various car rental offices, just outside the terminal
• here, the process is very simple; identify yourself, confirm you want to continue insurance as purchased previously, and you are handed the keys and directions to your new car
• I was somewhat concerned about the car in Wellington not being in the Hertz lot, but was told that happens all the itme and they get very good at finding cars; as for the damaged wheel, not to worry, if I reported it it would be looked after, and in any case it wasn't my problem as I was fully insured
• and very quickly we are out on the road, headed in the direction of Nelson on the Tasman Sea coast
• ahead of us were the Harley gang, but they very quickly went in a different direction
• at this time, it had started to rain quite heavily, with a moderate fog, with very narrow, curvy roads climbing to some height and then dropping back to sea level
• the road conditions did not seem to concern the locals who would come up behind us, patiently wait as we cautiosly drove along, and then at the earliest opportunity blast by and disappear around the next curve
• I am beginning to understand oneof the traffic safety signs we keep seeing; a picture of the round 100 km/hr speed limit sign, with concentric rings around it making the sign the bull-ey, and the slogan "It's a limit, not a target"
• seems New Zealanders are a bit like Germans, if the limit is 100, they must go 100!
• but, I must say, annoying as we probably are, the drivers are very patient, no horns, no flashing lights
• eventually the road leaves the coast, and begins to climb and go down several ranges of hills that are beginning to look like mountains, thus, switchbacks, blind curves, steep cliff on one side, steep drop on the other, roads still narrow, me still in a "large" Camry
• eventually the road begins to climb up one side of what is likely the northern outliers of the Southern Alps
• the weather has cleared enough that one can see a great distance ahead, and while we begin the climb in a valley, we can see switch-back after switch-back, steadily climbing
• and thinking, since Neson is on the sea coast, eventually similarly dropping on the other side
• one's nerves are not helped by extremely large tractor-trailer combinations, sometimes with two trailes, that either overtake on the uphill straights (and sometimes there is, mercifully, a third, passing lane), but also by those coming the other way, downhill, at speeds probably above the limit, and takingup a great deal of the road
• this was definitely the most "white knuckle" drive thus far, but eventually we did drop down to sea level, for a pleasant drive in bright sunshine into Nelson, along the Tasman Sea all the way
• stoppen in Neson at a supermarket to pick up the obligatory bottle of Viognier, some crackers and cheese, which we felt we had definitely earned
• our hotel, the Monaco Hotel and Resort (Monaco being the name of the Nelson suburb) was on the south side of the city, and an interesting property
• it looks like a very quaint English village, with rows of townhouses, each of which contains one or two suites
• we had the bottom floor of one, with a bedroom, large bathroom and a combination kitchenette and sitting room
• we duly set up for wine and cheese, and relaxed, and I gradually worked out the knots in my shoulders from the drive and watched CNN Sports and Olympic highlights
• given it was CNN it was difficult to know what countries, other than the US were in competition, or if it wasn't an American, who won anything
• eventually it came to suppertime, so we explored the hotel; their dining room was a bit fussy-looking, and seemed to wsant you to wear at least a jacket, so we wandered off to the pub across the road, which turned out to be owned by the hotel, and be a very us-cale pub
• The Honest Lawyer might have been straight out of an English village, with excellent wines, good beer, and pub food that was better than most fine restaurants; the prices were accordingly high, but the alternative, driving into Nelson, didn't appeal so we stayed
• had a good conversation with barkeep about local stuff, beer recommendations, wind recommendations, food recommendations, so pleasant that in a moment of weakness bout one of the pub t-shirts
• thoroughly watered and fed, wandered back to our "room" while watching the sun set over the Tasman Sea, and then went to bed as the next day would start early
• we knew where we were going, but it was difficult to decode some of the directions we had been given and reconcille them with a map, and it was not clear just how difficult some of the driving would be

February 19, 2010
Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman National Park,Seals and Beach Walk

• our intructions were to make our way to the "Wilsons Able Tasman National Park" kiosk in Kaiterireri, opposite thepublic beach
• off we set, navigating mostly with the GPS, set for Kaiteriteri, hoping that once we got there the rest would be obvious
• the route basically followed the coast of Tasman Bay, with only some minor hills, a few one-lane bridges, one quite long, and just going into Kaiteriteri, some very curvy, narrow road, going down hil with a lot of blind corners
• and, once there, kiosk was obvious, from the crowds lined up to book everything from transport up the coast (down? its southward) to campsites and hiking trailheads, to sight-seeing round trips, camping permits, and whatever Abel Tasman National Park offered
• there are no roads in the park, the only way in is by boat or on foot, and if by boat, Wilsons was the only game in town
• we had pre-booked a "Seals and Beach Walk"
• turned out to be not many seals, nor beach, but a lot of walk
• we embarked on a largish motor-cat, which had a very ingeneous landing bridge that it extended for embarking or disembarking passengers, and then retracted for travel, allowing the boat to stay in deeper water, and avoidning the necessity for docks
• we motored along the coast, sightseeing the very spectacular park coast line, dropping off people at various locations, for hiking, cayaking, or at some holiday lodges
• eventually we circled an island that had a seal colony, although very few were in residence
• then we were dropped of on the beach at Tonga Quarry Camp with very few and very rudimentary instructions;
• follow the trail back in the direction from which we came, you can't miss it, there is only one
• oh, there will be two when you get to such and such a beach, we suggest you follow the high tide route, unless you want to swim across and inlet
• when you get to Medlands Bech, wait for the next one of our boat headed to Kaiteriteri
• it all seemed a bit loosy-goosy, but we were assured it was all perfectly safe and they hadn't lost many people
• but first, we checked out the local bird life, including some little penguins, who were abviously used to people, and let you come quite close for pictures
• then, off into the bush, following the obvious path, in the direction we'd come from
• very quickly we left the beach, and sea level, and started climbing, then dropping down again, and climbing again
• I had my portable GPS on, and we effectively kept alternating between sea level and 100 to 150 metres, but we could walk at our own speed, and the path was well groomed, and never too steep
• the terrain was tropical rain forest, lots of moss, and the ubiquitous giant ferns
• through the trees on the ocean side one could most of the way see the turquoise blue Tasman Sea, and as one dropped down to sea level, the scenes were of secluded coves and beaches that one could only reach by boat
• some of the scenery was so beautiful and spectacular, that looking at the pictures we took, they are only a poor approximation
• the total distance walked was, by the GPS, a little over 10 km, not very much actually, but enough for us
• fortunately, we had brought lots of water, as advised, as there is abolutely no potable water available at any of the campsites or beaches along the way; all have boill water notices, all have take your grbage with you notices - the latter obviously obeyed, as we saw very little signs that humans had been along theway
• eventually we got to Medway Beach, and settled in for a longish wait for the next boat going back to Kaiteriteri
• while we had a schedule of arrivals and departures, it seemed to be only distantly related to reality
• eventually, about an hour late, our transport arrived, and we settled on board for the roughhly one hour back to our starting point
• by this time it was later mid-afternoon, and we walked to the only restaurant in Kaitreriteri fro a late lunch, early supper
• had very good, and substantial lunch of seafood chowder and lamb burger with fries
• then headed into the next door general store and camping outfitters, hoping against hope that I could stock up for the evening's relaxation rather than having to drive into Nelson
• they had a surprising good and extensive selection wines and cheeses (I guess camping in these parts does not necessarily involve eating and drinking badly)
• so, supplied for the evening, we headed back to our hotel, effectively reversing our route of the morning
• watched more of the Olympics, with the same complaints, sipped wine, ate cheese, then went to bed
• tomorrow, a longish drive, close to 300 km, to Punakaiki