Those who know me, know that I am a Grade A Introvert. I mean, who else would be fine going on a 6 week trip by themselves? I'm the sort who likes to hibernate, who enjoys her engineering job working on a computer and interacting with only a few people every day. I don't do strangers. But today I decided I'm on vacation and I should step out of my comfort zone...anyways, more to come on that later.
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| Byrd Monument on Mount Victoria |
My last morning in Wellington I went back (sort of) in a familiar direction. On my first day I ended up in Mount Victoria Town Belt (the park), but only went to Mount Albert. This morning I went to Mount Victoria at the opposite end of the park. Mount Victoria is higher than Mount Albert and offered a wonderful view of the area. Up on Mount Victoria is a monument to Richard Byrd, the leader of multiple Antarctic expeditions. He used New Zealand as his jumping off point for multiple expeditions. The monument faces directly south, and once leaving Wellington, the next point south of there is Antarctica.
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| Lined up for the ferry. This was before most the the other cars arrived. |
After wasting some more time in the park, I headed for the ferry. I got a quick scare when I went to check in because the person at the check-in point said there was a note on there saying "not sailing today". I was like, "WHAT?!?!?" I think that was left on my reservation from when they screwed up and called me back in September, asking if I was sailing that day like my ticket said I was. Obviously my ticket had been screwed up and they fixed that, but must have never taken the note off. Anyways, the good news was there was room still for me so all was fine. As I waited in the lot, more cars, campers, cars with trailers, and semi-trucks lined up. It was hard to believe we could all fit. But we did, with spare room. I spent the trip hoping I had the parking brake set on my car correctly and it wouldn't go careening into the sea or into other cars. Thankfully it was fairly smooth. I spent the trip across the Cook Strait plotting out the next week or so. Upon arrival in Picton, I found that I was a noob at ferry crossings because I didn't come prepared with a spray bottle of water and rags to clean off my windows. They were caked in brine.
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| View from the Centre of New Zealand |
From Picton, I drove straight to Nelson, where a nice Scottish man checked me into his hotel. He welcomed me by name, "by process of elimination" because I was the last to arrive for check in. He gave me a map of the town, told me where I could wash my car, and recommended I hike the short trip to the top of the Centre of New Zealand, which by some accounts, is the centerpoint of New Zealand. I did what he said and hiked up to the top the next morning for some great views, then grabbed some breakfast in town, before setting out for Pohara Beach.
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| Breakfast hit the spot! |
I stopped at a short hiking trail halfway between Nelson and Pohara to stretch my legs. I had another trail in mind about 30 minutes later, but by then it had started to rain and I wasn't sure if I was up for hiking in the rain so I continued on. I got to Pohara way earlier than I had intended because I didn't stop to the hike the other trail, but the good news was I was still able to get checked in. I did a load of laundry while it poured and poured and poured outside. At one point I thought it was done so I started out for a walk, only for it to start again.
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| After the rain had actually finally passed. |
December started with a trip up to Te Waikoropupu Springs. The springs are a sacred Maori site. The amount of water flowing out of these springs in amazing. So much water that it bubbles at the top of what looks to be at least 10 feet deep. It was so clear. The birds were chirping and it was a beautiful, calm location to be at.
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| Te Waikoropupu Springs |
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| Farewell Spit |
From the springs I headed to Farewell Spit. This is the hook of land that sticks out from the northern tip of the South Island. The trail I chose to follow only went about a kilometer down the down the spit and then crossed over from the Golden Bay size to the Tasman Sea side. As I wandered down the beach, a local offered me a tip to go all the way down to the rocks and maybe if I am lucky, I might see some penguins or seals. And then I got offered an invitation to tea when I finished, because he figured that we'd probably hit the parking lot at the same time, though coming from opposite directions. So I followed the beach along to the wrongs and didn't find any penguins, but I did find a lone seal!
And just like the man thought, we hit the parking lot within about 2 minutes of each other, and thus I ended up going to Malcolm's home up the road for tea and scones. It just so happens that Malcolm is a pilot. Worked in Saudi Arabia for a while, and then for JetBlue for like 14 years. We had a nice conversation for like an hour and he recommended some additional hikes while I was in the area.
After leaving Malcolm, I head up to Pillar Point Light Beacon Station. It's not quite a lighthouse, but sort of is. But the view up there is amazing. I had originally hoped to hike up to there from the Spit, but that trail was closed. But when Malcolm said you could get up there following a different trail just up the road, I was in.
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| Wharariki Beach |
After finishing that trail, I also wandered down the road a bit further to Wharariki Beach. This beach was not on my radar, probably because there are so many beaches, but again, it was a Malcolm recommendation. It was gorgeous, and famous! It just so happens that this beach is the beach that one of the Windows lock screens/background photos is from. I've seen the picture many times on my work computer! I was also told that sometimes you can find penguins and seals down there. Unfortunately not today though.
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| Wharariki Beach |
After finishing the hike, I made my way back to my hotel for the night. I have one more trail I want to do in the morning and then I'm heading down the west coast. It'll be a lot of driving tomorrow!
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