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We were so excited when Ali, Steve and baby Tyler, our roommates from Queenstown, decided to come visit us during our last week in Punakaiki. I can’t believe how much Tyler has grown in just two months. At four months old he is playful, giggly and smiles all the time, getting really embarrassed and blushing every time. It’s pretty cute and we couldn’t get enough of him. It was, of course, wonderful to see Ali and Steve as well!

Just as they left Punakaiki, BJ and I began cleaning the house and packing up. We enjoyed a final walk down to the beach before we left. The wind was howling and the waves were crashing further out than we had ever seen. We came to the conclusion that the Tasman Sea was just really upset that we were leaving.

Once we returned to the house, we picked up our backpacks, two carry-ons, and two bikes to head to the bus stop and it immediately started raining. We had already given the keys to the neighbor so we took cover on the porch as it poured down. As it started to let up we quickly made our way down the road. We were a pretty funny site . . . each carrying a full backpack, BJ with his computer bag and my rolly bag and I with both bikes. It was only a few kilometers but we got lots of stares from passing cars along the way. We stopped at the half way point at the local Tavern for a final Puni Burger, the most delicious burger in New Zealand, and a beer, and then continued on to the “town center” to catch a bus to Nelson.

After what seemed to be a very short 5 hour bus ride we arrived in Nelson for a week in the “big city.” We are staying in a family’s home about a 20 minute bike ride from downtown Nelson. Since their 21-year-old son is away at university, we get his room for the week. It’s decked out with old records nailed to the ceiling, a keyboard and amp in the corner, and a small shrine that his parents put together of his photos, but totally comfortable and perfect for what we need for a week. We spent all day yesterday in town, running a few big city errands and gearing up for Thailand and China with a few essentials . . . like climbing shoes, a bikini for me and some new surf shorts for BJ. Our method of transport has been our bikes and it has been so fun to cruise around and be so mobile in the middle of winter.

It was back to work today but we are venturing out for a movie tonight and hopefully a not-too-cold-or-wet bike ride home. For those of you I haven’t shared this with, I am going to start working full time for Vertical Media next month as their Content Manager. I am super excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to officially join the team.

We joined back up with Gretchen and Brad two evenings ago and went out to Indian food . . . now the third time we’ve had Indian food since we’ve been in New Zealand. We just can’t seem to get enough. BJ has been working steadily for the last couple of days but I’ve been able to sneak out a couple of times for a short hike and a quick wine tour with Brad and Gretchen. The Nelson region is well known for their wineries. I’m not sure how well known it is but if you like Chardonnay, go try to find a 2006 Wimea. It got 5 stars, whatever that means but it was gooood.

We cooked mussels last night. They happened to be the cheapest item in the seafood section at the market. They weren’t as good as the ones we had on Thanksgiving, but the novelty of cooking them ourselves made them pretty tasty. Probably the most eventful moment we’ve had in the last few days was the 1st Annual National Duck Match. We didn’t realize we had such prime seating until the event started. We were minding our own business on our deck, just as the two resident ducks were minding their business in our meditation pond. In comes male duck number 2 to conquer the other. We couldn’t tell if he wanted his lady or wanted ownership of the pond. Whatever it was, all three ducks put up a good fight. We caught some video of the final round as male duck number 1 is biting his significant other on the neck while trying to drown male duck number 2. See the Duck Match for yourself although it is a little disturbing.

We heard some sad news yesterday. One of Jean’s puppies, 14 year old Barkley (on the right in the photo), was being put down. Barkley was one of the many critters that Jean so lovingly took home from a kill shelter. She lost Sundance, another retriever, just under a year ago. Needless to say it has been a tough year for her. But she still has two little guys at home, Salsa-the-crazy-black-cat and Scooter-the-crazy-terrier. Barkley played the middle man between the two before and although his best friend was Scooter, he had befriended (or tolerated) Salsa as well. Now it’s up to Salsa and Scooter to hash it out and start snuggling. Jean, we are thinking about you and very sorry about your loss. We know how much Barkley meant to you.

BJ woke up at 4am yesterday (8am in Jackson, Wyoming) to meet over Skype with Vertical Media. When I finally zombied out of bed he was already half way through his work day. His meetings went great and the solid internet connection that we have make us more optimistic about being able to work from just about anywhere. We spent the late afternoon watching people kite surf on the beach and then reading, eating fine cheese, drinking German beer, and listening to the birds sing on our deck next to our koi fish pond.

We’ve cooked the last two meals at “home” and it has been a nice surprise to go into the local grocery store and find much more than just meat pies, kebab, and vegemite (what BJ feared would consume our diets down under). After dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood. We stopped and smelled roses, honeysuckle, and lilies in front of a few different houses and tried to remember the last time we had “stopped and smelled the flowers.”

We find ourselves in a unique situation. We actually have the chance to test out a few places and decide if and where we want to stay during our 6 months in New Zealand. We like Nelson, but what if we like Wanaka or Queenstown or Dunedin more? For this week, at least, we are calling Nelson home and looking forward to enjoying the artsy and active community that lives here.

On Thanksgiving Day Gretchen and Brad returned to our hostel with a van. We quickly set out to plan the next few days outside of Auckland over a dinner of mussels and German beers. We would head to Raglan on the west coast, a small town known for a left point break, and then on to Tongoriro National Park to hike. We awoke bright and early the following morning, and after gearing up on a camp stove, towels, and a little food, we pointed the car to Raglan. Outside of the main cities, the interstates turn from bustling 6 lane freeways to winding 2 lane roads with no shoulder. The speed limit, 100 kph, of course stays the same. BJ seemed to maintain the speed, but once I got behind the wheel on the right side of the car, things started going by a little slower and cars started driving by me a little faster.

We met up with Gretchen and Brad at the skate park in Raglan where Brad showed us and the local kids some of his skills. Raglan is a quaint but hip surf town. We checked out the break which despite being “turned off” right now, looked huge. Gretchen and Brad wanted to stick around for a little longer so we chose a campground to meet at in Tongoriro National Park and parted ways. When they still had not arrived at 8:30pm and we had worn out our welcome in the camp cafe, we cooked dinner, set up camp, and went to bed, assuming they had decided to camp elsewhere. We had a cell phone but had no way to reach them. Around 11pm that night I heard their van pull up and their telltale van door slide open.

The hike across Tongariro National Park is about 20 km, not including a side hike to one of the peaks, and is termed by Lonely Planet as “the best one-day hike in NZ.” Apparently everyone else in the country agrees (we tried to keep them out of the photos). The park actually suggests walking it in a certain direction as to avoid walking against traffic the whole time. Despite the hoards of people on the trail, it was beautiful in a volcanic sort of way. Mt. Ruapehu just blew up last year and the other peaks had steam rising from them so the fact that all surrounding land was barren made sense. There is a volcano watch tower of sorts at the top of Mt. Ruapehu. Apparently last year the watch tower was destroyed by a . . . guess what . . . volcano, and they had no way of warning the village and ski area below. The hike wound up and over a ridge in between two snow capped peaks, around a few fluorescent thermal lakes, and then down a mountain side with views very similar to valley views you see from Grand Teton National Park. After our long walk in Tongariro and a shower at camp, we said our farewells to Gretchen and Brad for the time being and drove 5 hours to Wellington to catch a ride on the ferry to the south island the following morning.

BJ went to school for a semester in Wellington ten years ago but transferred to a different university in Dunedin on the south island for the second half of the year. Although we were hoping to drive by his old flat and school, we were also anxious to make sure he could set up this week with a solid internet connection for his meetings with Tim on Tuesday and Wednesday. The internet connections we have found at hostels, campgrounds and libraries are either too expensive or not fast enough so a vacation rental with wifi will be necessary until we can rent out a cheap room in a house somewhere. So, we jumped on the early ferry to Picton and just as we pulled into the Marlborough Sound on the south island, the seas calmed and the cloudy rainy skies parted. We headed straight to Nelson and after grabbing a bunch of brochures from the visitor center on hotels and vacation rentals (places we wouldn’t normally stay) we started making phone calls to see what was available. We found an interesting locale called Joya and immediately had a good vibe from the woman, Paulina, who owns it. She runs an organic bed and breakfast as well as a music and artistic therapy center. The studio that we are renting this week is completely private and has a front deck overlooking our own Japanese style meditation pond and garden. We can afford this luxurious living for a week.

Yesterday afternoon and today we explored the area within and surrounding Nelson. We hiked up into the hills directly behind Nelson and passed a young woman who had turned back after, as she told us, she “got the fear of cows.” We laughed and proceeded up the cow spotted hill, only to get the fear as well. A calf charged BJ, maybe just to play but we will never know, and the bull stared at me long and hard. We giggled at ourselves but then realized that the cow may in fact be the largest animal that exists on New Zealand. There are a handful of National Parks that surround Nelson that we hope to explore while here, including the most well known Abel Tasman which you can either hike across or sea kayak around. For some reason we have been set on the idea of living in Wanaka since we arrived but we also feel like we should take advantage of where we are before moving on. That being said we are not sure how long we will stay in Nelson.