Playing Catch-Up

I'm sitting in a Cafe in some small town right now, waiting to be served my meal, and then will be off again, but thought I'd try to catch you up in the mean time. It will likely not be in chronological order, but I'll do my best to work backwards from today to when I last posted.

So as I already told you, I'm sitting in a Cafe and just finished an hour plus jetboating tour. I learned a little history on jetboating, such as it was invented by an NZ farmer, and is the design behind waverunners and other such marine vessels that use water as a means of propulsion. I actually stumbled upon the jetboating tour on my way over to Punakaiki back on the West Coast, as I've zig-zagged my way around the South Island. When I saw the sign yesterday, I decided that if I was low on time, I would forgo the kayaking in Punakaiki and go with the jetboat ride on the way back....when I was passing through Queenstown on the return from Milford Sound, it was about 7pm, and I was not up to taking another day off just to jetboat. So anyhow, after some snooping around this morning and spending a little time on the beach and on a brief trail in Punakaiki, I got back on the road and came across the jetboating company where I had to wait about an hour and a half for the next ride, but I thought it was well worth it :-) The boat is capable of going up to 100kph in as little as 10cm of water, and if my conversions are correct, that's about 62mph in about 4 inches of water. Wow!

Last night I found myself sitting in a little tavern in Punakaiki for my first purchased meal since the fish n chips that I had after my Banks Peninsula tramp. I could smell the food as I walked back from a little exploring of the pancake rocks (after which Punakaiki is named) and decided that I would not be cooking for myself if the tavern was still open. I arrived ten minutes before ordering ended, and after trying the one in Akaroa, asked the bartender if he had a light summer ale and he presented to me a light ale made with ginger and honey that bore a pleasing resemblance to ginger-ale. As I sipped my ale and waited for my Puni fish burger (it was delicious and humongous!), I tried to figure out the game of rugby just by watching. I'm still in the dark.

When I last wrote, I had just finished kayaking Milford Sound. On my way out, I picked up a Brit whose motorcycle's tire went flat and drove him back to the lodge, and then to his bike. Since Judith the German, I will only pick up temporary strays--no overnights! I then began my mad dash back to the East Coast as the nephew of a friend wanted me to try to be in Nelson--a 16 hour drive--by the next evening. Not sure what to do, and without any cellular reception, I initially made my way Queenstown, which I immediately left upon arrival because I figured I'd have to spend an entire extra day there just to do the boat ride. I twas nearing 9pm, so I fueled up, and headed back to Oamaru again to stay the night on the beach. On the drive over, the clouds cleared the sky like a curtain being pulled back, and introduced bit by bit the many stars as they took the stage against a navy sky. I kept driving and driving, dividing my attention between the winding road and the stars. Upon turning a corner and coming down a mountain road, a yellow 3/4 moon shone, reflecting on the lake beside the road. If you haven't realized it by now, I have an obsession with the moon, sun, and stars. Anybody who knows me really well knows just how seriously I can take it. So I stopped on the side of the road, and made my best attempt to capture the moment. Not much justice was done, but that's pretty much always the case when you take a picture. After hours of driving, I pulled into my spot for the night at about 12:45 am: a cliff overlooking the beach below.

Then next morning, Saturday, I awoke around 9am. The notion of losing a few pounds as a result of decreased funds for food--don't think it's working. After a nice little breakfast whipped up with my handy gas stove, I sped off to CHC since that was the only known location that my phone worked. Taking the "scenic route", a three hour drive took about five, while passing through mountains on one side and farmland, plains, and ocean on the other, I also passed through a herd of sheep in the middle of the road (I got not free dinner out of this bit), and drove alongside some serious cyclist for about 15 miles who were in a race along a country road. I revisited the Botanic Gardens as I sipped a Chai latte and checked my voicemail. After finding out that the mother of the guy in Nelson had a bed made up for me, I felt kind of obligated to go, so I headed up that way and made it to Pelorus (I think that was the name) National Park just outside of Blenheim, a city that was the closest thing to Boca Raton that I have seen since I got here. I rolled in around 10:30pm, after requesting that God find me a spot as I didn't feel right spending the night alongside the road practically in somebody's vineyard as I was in "wine country". The park was a nice little gem, and I started the next day with a refreshing shower, a double scoop of ice cream (one scoop rum raisin, one scoop butterscotch), and a 30 minute trail walk. I then made my way to Nelson, where I discovered that my phone worked, but only in about a square mile vicinity.

After a bit of trying, I finally got in contact with the people at whose home I'd be staying, and we spent the afternoon at the beach as that was a "touristy thing" to do, so said by my host--I thought we were going to see Nelson Lake. Oh well. Unfortunately, this little side trip seemed to be probably one of the regrettable moments of the trip so far. The ran a bit of a side business as a home stay for travelers, and it seemed just a bit impersonal--I haven't learned yet to please myself rather than others, and not feel bad for doing this. This trend followed me through the afternoon when I went to Nelson Lake rather than Abel Tasman as planned, with some of the housemates who weren't what I deemed prime company once we were on our way. But this was all remedied when I arrived a few hours later in Punakaiki and was greeted by some absolutely amazing scenery! The beach makes everything better! I spent the evening checking out the pancake rocks, and what would have been the blowhole had it been high tide. What spectacular views!

Now I'm en route to Abel Tasman for either a walk or kayak tomorrow, and then off to catch the ferry to the North Island where I'll explore for a few more days until I do my surf trip. Food's here, so that's all for now!