Montag, 3. Dezember 2012

South, sweet south



The South Island is different. Less people, even more nature. The ferry carries me over the Cook Street in now time and I find myself in Piction, the gate to the South. Finally I am back. Fueled up and bought some food and off I went over the Queen Charlotte Drive to the West. My first stop was a VERY nice campsite west of Havelock. A river has cut big pools into the landscape. Nice, but very cold. And the flies nearly killed me at night. But awesome and facilities like in a 5star Hotel for less than a Hostel.. Nice. Again, on the bike and after that my famous faschierte Laberl ;-)


Meanwhile I arrived at the entrance of the Abel Tasman NP, NZ's smalles National Park. I booked a boatride to about the middle of the "Great Walk" and walked the way back along beautiful coastlines and lonely beached. Well not that lonely, but quiet. Even if it is offseason, there were too many tourists for my taste. But I can deal with that. Momentarily...


Last stop for the Nelson area should be Farewall Spit, a giant sand spit that is formed by wind and currents. It was named by James Cook on his first journey some time ago. I stayed in Collingwood, a nice Kiwistyle camp site. On my way back, I stopped over my favourite "stones". No, not diamonds, but Limestone. A Karstfreak as I am would define this heaven. Holes in the ground wherever you looked. Pupu springs (the larges fresh water spring in NZ), Riwaka (some execellent viz sumps) and the highest vertical shaft (187m) in NZ made me some kind of sentimental. 


Further on up the road I found myself in Nelsons Lake NP. Again, on a DOC campsite. Cheap and all you need. In the evening it started to rain, first time bad weather. Next day the weather was still bad, but I started an alpine track as I've planned. Mt Robert was titled a 5h loop track, so I extended it a little bit along the mountain rim. Needless to say that his was a lot of fun in total foggy and windy weather. On the way down the sun came out and I got rid of 3 layers of clothing. Conditions change here quite quickly.


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