New Zealand - Days 12-19

The town of Takaka was full of what the Lonely Planet says are "woodstock children" but I refer to them as dirty hippies. I don't really know why it bothered me so much, but every other person walked around barefoot and I even saw a 12 year old (or what I thought was a 12 year old) with freakin' dreadlocks. Annoying, but whatever...

With the holidays in full swing, the town was crowded and everything was completely booked. We ended up staying in a free campground near the Takaka River bridge, which was a madhouse, but we made it through - barely. The first day we were there, our tent was stolen while we were climbing. Awesome! Lucky for us, a couple in an RV had a brand new extra tent lying around and happily let us borrow it for the evening. Thank God! Other than being robbed, we had a pretty good time in the northwestern area of the South Island. We did a few days of climbing on the limestone at Paynes Ford - slopey and short, other than that, nothing to get too excited about. The seacliffs were my personal favorite and had a crag with overhung jug hauls! We went to the Farewell Spit to the north one day, bearing the really windy beach to see a couple of sand covered seals, and then had some tasty locally made beer at the Mussel Inn on our way back.



I also had my first hippy bath that day in the river next to the campground. Felt good at the time, but then just as dirty the next day. The Pupu springs just a short drive from the camping was absolutely beautiful and I think that was one of my favorite places in the area.



The sea kayaking was a nice relaxing day and we got a nice beach to ourselves that afternoon. We also got to see a couple more seals playing in the water :)



We spent New Years Eve at the campground and didn't think we'd make it to midnight, but the local boys next to us were pretty fun and after we received a wedding gift from them (black forest cadbury chocolate bar), they were really excited to show us the Maori Haka, which was quite entertaining I have to say. A bunch of guys that tear their shirts off and yell nonsense - lol.



Our last day in the area, we hiked approximately 13K along the Abel Tasman Costal Track to a beautiful beach where we picnicked and laid in the sun until we took a water taxi back to the trailhead. Great way to spend a day!



At the moment, we are at Nelson Lakes National Park and not having the best of weather, but hey, it was bound to happen at some point along our trip! We had a nice room at the Alpine Lodge, saw the 3rd Pirates movie and did a hike today to the top of Mt. Roberts for a good little workout. I think we might head to Nelson the City this afternoon, but we haven't completely decided yet. We'll keep you posted!