pics from my waterproof camera...

Here are a few pics of kayaking Abel Tasman.
We made a raft with 4 double kayaks and sailed for a while back into our final stop. Pretty fun!

Enjoy!

Abel Tasman

Here are a few pics from Abel Tasman - such a beautiful place!

We stayed on a boat in Anchorage Bay called Aquapackers. You can see the boat in this picture.It is a boat that sleeps 20-30 people. Originally booked that for 3 nights but decided 2 would be enough.
They feed you breakfast & dinner on the boat, which is nice but it is same exact meal every night. Not bad, but not fantastic. The bunks we slept in left about a foot between your face and the ceiling...one girl compared it to a school trip which is sort of how it felt! Except there was a bar on the top floor...

I hiked into the park on Monday. Met Jesse & our bags on the beach @ Anchorage Bay. Jesse & I did a hike close to our home base on Tuesday with 2 new friends Richard & Raz. The hike was cool because it was off of the main walking track so a little more remote. The weather was great...until we got to the beach each day! I was looking forward to swimming but the clouds kept rolling in right at that time and it was chilly.

Wednesday we took a guided kayak tour of the park, including Tonga Island which is home to NZ fur seals. We saw lots of seals and some pups which was cute. Also saw a lone dolphin who has been hanging in the area for about a year named George. So cool to see him up close! Also saw a blue penguin swimming right in front of us - he was shy and disappeared but was cool to see for a brief moment. I took come pics with my waterproof camera but will have to upload them later.

We took a water taxi out of the park & stayed at a backpacker's last nigth in Marahau. Going to the beach today by the entrance of the park & then back to Nelson this afternoon for a few nights before heading to the north island. Can not believe we have been traveling for a month already! It does not seem like enough time!!

bye bye blueberries

We are leaving the blueberry cottage today - sad :(
Had such an amazing time here picking berries and hanging with the Crums.

Cleaning up now & getting on a bus to Nelson at 12:55.

A few pics of bike wine tour & new friends for your viewing pleasure....

pickin' & sortin'

Another day of picking blueberries...we picked for about 2-3/4 hours and then sorted to bag up only the perfect berries to sell - nothing pink or soft. They were really good today - big ones and very few "seconds" which made sorting easier. You can see the sorting machine in these pics - we roll our hands over all of the berries to check for quality.
Had lunch with the Crums & then went on a mini-wine-bike-tour in the afternoon.
Jesse cooked dinner and now we are chilling in the Blueberry Cottage while Emma (another woof-er) bakes blueberries in every way imaginable - brownies, shortbread cookies, maybe muffins to come.

farm time

We are now "wwofing" on an organic blueberry & plum farm in Renwick. The farm is owned by Bob & Jennie Crum who are very cool. Everyday we wake up and pick blueberries for 4 hours...then have the afternoon off to do whatever we like. There are bicycles that the woofers can use so Jesse and I took a test ride on our first afternoon. We are in the middle of Marlborough wine country which is awesome! There are tons of vineyards close by that we can visit on our bikes.

On Sunday we get the day off and there is a Farmer's Market in the next town over, Belheim. Bob, Jennie and two other wwoofers left home at 7:15am to set up the stall. Jesse and I rode our bikes to help out when the market opened at 10am. It took about 40 minutes to get there, luckily all flat and the wind was at our back on the way there. We helped bag & sell plums and blueberries - pretty exciting. We sold ALL of the plums - nice work.

After the market closed down we also helped to break down the stalls and picnic benches/umbrellas etc. Very interesting to see the clean up and shut down - all of these people helping out & making a big task so manageable.

We are lucky enough to have a computer in our cottage - but Jesse lost ALL of her photos on it yesterday. So I am just doing a test run & uploading a few pictures that I just took on a new memory card until I am comfortable that I will not erase everything!!

christchurch -culverdon - kaikora - renwick

We made it to Christchurch on the 12th - had a wonderful visit with our new friend Margo & her mom Jill. They were nice enough to let us sleep in beds....after 8 nights in the mini-van we really appreciated that! Great chats & Christmas cake desert. mmmmmmm. Dropped the van off in exchange for a little rental car.

Headed up to Culverdon to stay a night with another new friend, Hugo, and his family. What an amazing place! Gorgeous farm w/amazing gardens. We played some golf which was hilarious. Both Jesse and i lost balls in the water and went in to get them. Not sure that was necessary but it sure was funny. Great dinner followed by some more rabbit shooting. This time hanging out of the side of an SUV - pretty ridiculous. Good times!

Stopped by Hanmer Springs for lunch & headed to Kaikura for a few nights. We met some great people at the hostel. Kiwi father/son duo let me & Jesse play with their fire sticks. So fun! And slightly dangerous- i think I burned a little hair? Sam & Derek also invited us to join on a snorkeling adventure. We rented wet suits/masks/snorkels and went out into the ocean with them. It was awesome, and a little chilly. The guys dove for Paua (like Abalone in the US) and got 5 of them! The shells are the most amazing colors once you take out the meat. We also saw lots of fish, starfish and sea anemone - which Derek cut open and we tasted while the spikes were still moving around. Hard core! The guys insisted that we keep one of the Paua to cook back at the hostel. They wrote down the recipe for us and while I was in the middle of cooking the fire alarm went off at the hostel! There was smoke coming out of the side of the building and 2 fire trucks came. It was all resolved in 15 minutes or less but exciting stuff. I did end up cooking the paua and I really enjoyed it! Jesse not so much... We went out to the bar and had a fun night - saw somew amazing new dance moves, favorite one we named the "frogger" - and learned from a new Australian friend.

Now we are about to start our week working on a farm in Renwick. Check out www.wwoof.co.nz to see what the program is all about!

i am working with a slight sunburn on my back right now - summer time!

Curio Bay - Dunedin - Oamaru - Mt Cook - Lake Tekapo

Checking in from the little purple & green camper. We have been all over the south island - took the southern scenic route which was amazing. We experienced our first sheep road block! It was pretty funny. Saw Hector Dolphins swimming in Curio Bay, met some penguins on the east coast, hiked to a glacial lake on Mt Cook and now going to kayaking on lake Tekapo today. It has been a little rainy so far but now it is sunny! Really feels like summer which is nice.

The turquoise color of the lakes is unreal!!

just me, jesse & our campa

Happy 2009!
We spend NYE in Queenstown. Fun night & they had some good fireworks! We slept in Arrowtown at Jill's home. She has been so nice to let us sleep there & hang out too. We played a little backyard cricket on January 1st.

When is the last time you saw a streaker at a sporting event?!? We saw one on Saturday when we went to the Glenorchy Races. It is a cool horse race with local farm horses competing and hysterical commentary over the loudspeaker. The streaker wore only cowboy boots and cowboy hat....he also attempted to participate in the event. I was not fast enough with my camera to capture it but you can imagine!

Jesse & I picked up our camper van yesterday. it is pretty funny - bright green & purple. Last night we made the drive to Wanaka. We stayed at a camper park with hot tubs & a sauna - not too shabby!
Today we went "tramping" - which is kiwi for hiking. Hiked up the Rob Roy Valley - awesome river flowing and ate some PB&J sitting up by a glacier.
Tonight we are going to stick around Wanaka and check out some more local flavor...tomorrow back through Queenstown on our way to Te Anau where we will check out glow worms!

It's been raining the past few days...but I did participate in my first rabbit hunt last night. Sort of intense! but they are pests & eat the clover that is meant for the sheep @ Mt Creighton station.

Tomorrow we are going fly fishing if the weather permits.