Update 5 (25/03)

After a lengthy recovery from my last night out in Wellington, I made my way over to South Island on the ferry - the crossing was, we were told, unusually calm. From Picton to Nelson, which is a really pretty, if small, town - the second largest in S. Island, but only 50,000 people. Went sea-kayaking round the Abel Tasman National Park - stunning scenery (have a feeling that I've used that phrase more than once in this journal) and a really good day out.

Saw Split Apple Rock, where Abel Tasman (Dutch explorer) was the first European to sight New Zealand - not an auspicious place to land though, as the Maori locals sliced up the occupants of the first launch to attempt a landing. When James Cook came this way he had the good sense to impress the locals by splitting a massive egg-shaped rock (which was tapu - sacred - to the Maoris; they believed it to be the egg of a mythical sea-creature) with a cannonball. Hence Split Apple Rock. Cook landed safely, met the Maoris, and thus New Zealand eventually became British, and not Dutch.

We stopped on a little island for some midmorning tea, and on a mainland beach for lunch. The only drawback was that it was a two-man kayak, and I wasn't in charge of the steering mechanism; my navigator had about as much directional sense as a stunned and drunken lemming. Supposedly we covered about 12 kms; due to our sinuous route I'm sure that we did at least 15... was put in mind of that line from Coleridge about "miles meandering with a mazy motion"... was absolutely shattered for the last 20 mins, but a great day nonetheless.

Abel Tasman National Park

Split Apple Rock

Buller Gorge Jet Boating

Spent a few days in Nelson, catching up on sleep mainly, although I did venture out to a karaoke evening, where Jez would have been delighted to see me sing/shout his favourite song "Whatever" (which sentiment was echoed by the audience!).

From Nelson to a tiny town called Westport, an old goldmining town which was so unremarkable that I'm having trouble thinking of anything to say about it at all...other than that, after an unremarkable evening I went jetboating down the TOTALLY remarkable Buller Gorge. The jet boat was pretty cool, although one passenger got a cracked rib after a 360 degree spin sent myself and another strapping six-footer hurtling into him at pace, pinning him against the side rail (boy was I glad to be sat in the middle!). The sandflies were a pest throughout, but you just have to put up with it as a consequence of the weather being so good (you see far less of them when it's wet).

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