Nelson, not the Admiral

Location: Franz Josef Glacier tourist info place
Weather: Dark

Took the ferry trip across the Cook Straight to the South Island. Apparently the Cook Straight can get very choppy at times until you get to the Marlborough Sounds (on the south island). But it was a fairly calm crossing, I didn't even chuck up, except the time when I went to look at the back of the ship and noticed a most harrowing stench in the air - I looked down to the lower deck and saw there were 3 lorry loads of smelly sheep on board! I took the slow 3 hour ferry - Aratere - you can do the crossing in 2.30hours on 'The Lynx' but I did not trust this boat and I'm glad I didn't because I've subsequently been told if the weather is even mildy bad then you aren't allowed outside and that unless you are Captain Nemo himself you are liable to be seasick.

Anyways after my exciting voyage (I must confess I passed out due to tiredness on the nice seats inside for about an hour of it) I got the bus to Nelson. Nelson is the 2nd biggest town in the South Island. A whole 82,000 people live there! WOW! yeah considering only 4 million people live in NZ and only 1 million live in the New Zealand that's a big city! Checked into The Palace Backpackers (that is a trade-descriptions name breach if ever there was one).

Down the road from Nelson is the Abel Tasman National park. I hiked 20km into the park with a days worth of food and my trusty backpack, starting at Marahau and following the coastal track to Bark Bay, stayed the night at a hut (where you sleep in the most worryingly close sleeping quarters imaginable) and then sea kayaked with a tour group back to Marahau. It's amazing how many km's you can cover in a 2 man kayak in a day. Originally I had wanted to start at the northern end of the park, hike to Bark Bay, then kayak down to Marahau (the southern end), but the the path is tidal and the rangers told me I wouldn't be able to cross it, however, I reckon that's coblers as I had to take off my shoes + socks to cross another tidal fjord type bit anyway! It was all pretty cool anyway as I got to see seals in the wild and stuff and the hike was a lot like the Overland but steeper.

By JamesReed on 25.04.04 @ 07:55 AM GMT