Moving to New Zealand--Christmas Vacation Part I

..Living the goal..

North of Dunedin...

With Christmas come and gone, Jeannine and I embarked on a trip that we had been planning for since October. On Boxer Day (26th--actually got to celebrate it for the first time after always cursing Canadians for having one more day off than us!) we traveled up Highway One North, away from Dunedin, for the first time. The road generally takes you along the coast with sweeping views of the ocean, cliffs, sheep, etc. Our first tourist stop came at a location famous for it's geology. The Moreaki boulders are not ordinary rocks. In fact, chances are you won't find them anywhere else in the world. What makes these formations so peculiar is that they are all almost perfectly circular. While many believe they are the ancestors of an ancient race that colonized New Zealand, I prefer the old Alien-man-eating-egg theory. Either way, if you're in the area, check them out.
Continuing up Highway One, Jeannine and I turned off to cut across Arthur's Pass through the Southern Alps. Anytime you want to get across the South island, you generally have to take some kind of pass to get there. These cuts through the mountains are marvels of engineering and rather dangerous. Mostly likely, it's raining and visibility is low. landslides are a constant threat, and the closest town is hours away. Lucky for us it was raining, visibility was low, and closest town was closed because of the holidays. Great luck. White knuckle the entire way.
After traveling through the pass it became quite obvious that we were going to need to stop to get gas before the next town--roughly two hours away. Unfortunately, none of the gas stations were open due to the Holiday. SOB! While J and I were pondering sleeping arrangements in the lovely town of Reefton, (pop. 1000) a local pointed out that we could use our debit card to activate one of the pumps. Technology is a great thing.
   From Reefton, we finally made it to Nelson on the northern coastline of the South Island. Our planned trip time had been 7 hours. It had taken us 12.
   The next morning, we packed up our bags and headed out to the Abel Tasman National Park. We planned on Kayaking for one day with a guide and then camping and hiking through the park for the next three nights. The park was simply gorgeous and if rain had followed us on the trip up, it sure as hell wasn't with us now. Beautiful beaches, unspoiled coves, and perfect weather combined for an awesome experience. The stars at night were like nothing I've ever seen before. The kind of raw beauty that is becoming rarer throughout the world. Hiking took us through tropical forests, over waterfalls, and high above the ocean. The campgrounds were some of the cleanest we've ever experienced with toilets throughout the park cleaned daily. At night, there were glow worm caves to explore that would simply light up the darkness.
    Another fun experience for us was the introduction to Possums. Back home, raccoons and bears can attack your campsite. Here, its Possums. Don't leave food out and pray you're never caught in a nest of them. On the third night in the Abel Tasman, up high in the hills, we suddenly were. These things sound like Velociraptors..coordinating attacks, running into your tent, etc. One of them even tried getting into our tent by eating through the fabric. Needless to say, our third night was one of the most restless.
    After Abel Tasman, it was back off to Nelson for a little R&R and celebration of the New Year. We ate some amazing seafood, tried on the One Ring from the actual Lord of Rings films, and danced in the New Year at a Jazz Festival with friends.
     Look for Part II of our trip soon where our car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Jeannine jumps off a cliff, and I visit my roots and head over to a small French town on the coast. Till then...

More Photos: