The Easter egg heist!

Abel Tasman hike

Abel Tasman hike

Abel Tasman hike- sailing

Cairns

Brooklyn!!  Thatta way!

Black Swan on Farewell Spit

ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK and NELSON, NZ

                I didn’t sleep well last night.  A new girl (from Australia, black, overweight) had joined our 3-man hostel room and her snoring was a little inconvenient.  In the middle of the night I had a dream that a 30-something year old version of myself had just arrived home to my house in suburbia and was taking groceries out of the trunk of the car.  While the garage door was automatically closing, 3 teenage punks in ski masks slipped under the door and trapped themselves inside with me in hopes of robbing me.  I remember one of them had a lighter.  I was awoken from this dream to find a large black figure hovering over me.  I was so disoriented and scared!  It was my new roommate telling me that I was snoring and that I should turn over.  I let her know that she was snoring too.  She told me to wake her if it gets loud.  I told her I had ear plugs and wouldn’t ever wake a stranger.  I may have done the same in her position but not after being on the other end.  It’s scary enough to be sleeping with up to 7 strangers that could steal your stuff.  Now I know how scary it is to be woken up by a stranger in a strange place!  Reminder:  pick up more ear plugs.

                We headed to Motueka where we found the only sketchy people in all of New Zealand.  There were legit gangs loitering on the street corners.  It was so random!  We checked out Split Apple Rock nearby  and visited the two golden beaches of Kaiteriteri for sunset.  Very pretty and very peaceful.   I wish it were summertime.

The next morning we took the water taxi from Marahau to Bark Bay for our 25km Abel Tasman hike.  Everyone else at the water taxi pick-up looked intense!  They were decked out in his and hers matching hiking outfits from REI.   The tide was drastic so we boarded our boat on land and were driven to the water by a tractor.  The hiking path was very manicured.  They made it pretty easy on their hikers in New Zealand.  It was more like a safe, dirt path for walking.  No climbing involved.  We made a snack stop at Cleopatra’s pool and took a few small hikes down to the beaches.  There were some really pretty lookouts that Maria thought were comparable to Thailand.  I imagine they are much nicer in the summer time when you could use a refreshing dip.  Seven hours later, we finished with sore joints but soaring egos. 

                The rain followed us to Takaka so we decided to catch a movie at the local cinema.  With our luck we had actually stumbled into town in time for the international film festival.  The theatre was a large room with modest stadium seating in the middle and lots of comfy couches along the sides.  There were also large beanbag pillows toward the front.  Very cool.  We saw a good Italian romantic comedy called, ‘Many Kisses Later’.  It was a lot like Love Actually, which was well received.  I was having such a wonderful time in New Zealand that I hadn’t been concerned about my love life in the slightest.  It was nice to zone out in the land of love for a couple hours- laugh, cry, and restore faith for the future.

We headed out to Farewell Spit the next morning even though the weather continued to be dreary.  I loved the beautiful black swans of Farewell Spit while we walked along the 23km of desert-like landscape at the northernmost tip of the South Island.  It was much larger and more fertile than I was expecting.  We headed west across the sand dunes to reach the Tasman Sea before it started raining again.  The beach was filled with small sea shells that made the most pleasant crunch noise under my sneakers.  It was so peaceful- so New Zealand.  It was a good place to celebrate Easter Sunday.

                We made it to Nelson at 8:30pm and I gave Maria a look- you want to sneak into the YHA to steal a shower?  It was brilliant.  The hostel requires a code after 8:00pm but luckily we drove up just when a guest was entering.  I snuck in with the guest and was very surprised to see a receptionist still at the desk.  They were supposed to leave at 8!  I tried to act cool and grabbed a pamphlet before bee-lining for the kitchen.  I snuck out onto the patio so I could catch Maria outside and tell her there was someone at the front desk and she shouldn’t come in.  She smuggled me a dozen eggs between the wrought iron fence so that I could at least boil us some eggs for the next few days.  I started my cooking in the kitchen where I met a very strange American who had been living in Australia and New Zealand most of his life and appeared to have dabbled in some LSD over the years while playing in his band.  This guy was so annoying but acted as the perfect decoy when the receptionist came into the kitchen to check up on things.  I felt like he was onto me but LSD-guy just kept talking and talking so he couldn’t interrupt.  I heard him locking things up around the hostel and I knew the coast would be clear by the time this guy stopped talking. 

                The eggs finished boiling and I met Maria at the entrance to let her in.  We took the quickest showers of our lives and busted out of the YHA just as one of the resident housekeepers took notice.  We were on such a heist high when we rolled into a picnic area in Picton to sleep for the night.  What a happy Easter!