South Island Trip: Nelson.

   Well, I’m on the South Island! It is so beautiful down here… and cold! I’m in Nelson now, heading to Abel Tasman National Park tomorrow. I’ve heard it’s amazing – I can’t wait!

   Thursday morning I woke up early to catch the 8:15 ferry to Picton. I took the ferry over at the beginning of the trimester, but this time I was on the biggest Interislander ferry, and it was colder! It was too cold to sit up on the sun deck, although I did for a bit to catch some good views!

Uggghhh I woke up before the sun did.

   The ferry arrived in Picton at 11:30ish. It takes 3 hours to sail over, but 20 minutes to fly. I think the ferry was totally worth it though. Leaving Wellington and the North Island is beautiful, and entering the Marlborough Sounds is amazing.

Hello South Island!

   After getting off the ferry, I picked up my rental car, and I was off! The drive from Picton to Nelson took me a little over an hour and a half. Part of it was mountainous, but part of it was flat, luckily! It was a beautiful drive, and I stopped a couple times to take some photos. If all of my drives on the South Island are like this, I’m gonna be pulling over to the side of the road a lot!

Yup... it's winter.

   I finally made it to Nelson around 2, and decided to explore a bit. I drove down the main street, which was lined with tons of cute little shops as well as theatres and cafes. Afterwards, I parked my car at my backpackers, and walked across town to the Botanics Reserve. The Reserve began a short walk to the geographical centre of New Zealand. Of course it had to be on top of a big hill… just like everything else in NZ! But I made it up the steep hill, and enjoyed the view for a while. I could see Tasman Bay, Abel Tasman National Park, the city of Nelson, and beyond! It was so cool.

Nelson City, Tasman Bay, and Abel Tasman National Park in the distance.

   I was quite exhausted after my busy day, so I just headed back to the hostel and relaxed before free pudding and ice cream at 8 PM sharp. I stayed at the sister lodge of this one in Picton, and they had free hot chocolate pudding as well. Pudding is what they call dessert here, and hot chocolate pudding is like molten cake.. yum!

I would looove to visit this beach when it's warm out.
On my way to the World of Wearable Arts and Classic Cars Museum!

   Friday, I woke up to a lovely free breakfast in the hostel. Staying in backpackers during the winter has its perks – less people and free food! After breakfast, I got in my little Nissan Sunny and drove to the World of Wearable Arts and Classic Cars Museum. A mouth full, I know! It’s a weird combination of clothes and cars, and I wasn’t too sure how much I would like it, but everyone raves about it. After visiting, I can see why! It was so cool! If I were to go back though, I would definitely not go alone. It was creepy! I went into the Wearable Art gallery first, which was a darkly lit room with disco balls and stage lights shining on mannequins in elaborate outfits. I was so scared the whole time I was in there! But the clothing was so amazing. Bummer I couldn’t take photos in there!

   However, I could take photos in the Classic Cars gallery, and I took lots! They had cars from several countries, ranging from 1910 to today.

Rust in peace : (

   I was in awe of all the different cars they had, notably:

The "Shaguar" from Austin Powers.

Just hangin' out in the Delorean...

Could it be...

... Sheriff from the Cars movie?!?

So many cars! And this is only one of the rooms!

   I spent quite a bit of time at the Museum, and I loved it! It definitely was strange, but very neat. I drove to the nearby Middle Earth Winery afterwards. Yumm wine! It was only midday by the time I finished those things, so I decided to do another walk. This time, I drove to the base of the Kahikatea Track, named after the HUGE 8 metre diameter Kahikatea that’s along the path. The track required “a good level of fitness,” and they weren’t kidding! It was so steep! It took me about an hour to get to the top, but I had to take some breaks. This track went up really high really quickly! I followed a stream for a while through native bush, and saw the giant Kahikatea on the way, and it was seriously breathtaking. It’s 36 metres high, has a 34 metre spread, and is thought to be about 300-500 years old.

This is the best I could do! Limited resources, ya know...

   It was pretty hard to take a selfie with nothing but forest floor and tall trees around! There was a lot to see besides just the huge tree. I love walking through the bush, seeing all vegetation that is so different from home! And there are always birds everywhere – they seem to follow you and make lots of loud noises at you. Once I got up a fair way, I could start to see how high I had climbed, and I had awesome views of the city and the bay. The centre of NZ was on a different hill than this walk. I had kinda similar views, but the Grampians are a bit higher, and I could see more of the Tasman Bay. It was so gorgeous. I sat at the top for a while just admiring the landscape. I can’t believe how picturesque New Zealand is!

The view of Nelson. Dang, I hiked really high up!

Sheep. Everywhere.

The sun felt so good after tramping through the cold bush!

   I took the Mahoe Track back down the Grampians, and ended up at my car very exhausted. I didn’t think I was so out of shape! It was only around 4, but I had a full day, so just made my way back to my hostel. Free pudding again, wahoo!