Sweet as!

I’m writing this on a bus headed from Nelson down to Greymouth. I thought it’d be the perfect time to  catch up on a bit of blogging…I was in Nelson from Sunday through Thursday morning (today). Nelson is a small town of about 42,000 people. The center is small enough that if you want to walk from one corner to the next, you don’t need much more than a few minutes. To get from one “outskirt” to the next on foot takes about 30 minutes or so, and that’s walking slowly. It’s small, quaint, and full of colorful little cafes and restaurants with pretty awnings and delicious, though expensive, foods. It also has a pretty rocking clubbing scene on Bridge Street that can, apparently, bring out as many as 600 people out on a good Saturday night.

Nelson is not only one of the nicer South Island towns, but it’s also part of the Tasman Bay area, and often combined with the small city of Richmond and included with Golden Bay on the map. It’s also a gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand’s newest and smallest national park. I believe it was founded in 1962 (though I could be wrong – no net to check now). The coastline park takes you across dozens of beautiful, semi-secluded beaches with golden sands (from the weathering of rocks along the shore), and clear blue and green waters. I decided to go for a roughly 20-kilometer day hike from Bark Bay down to Marahau. I caught a water taxi up to Bark’s Bay, which is about halfway up the national park coastline (but allegedly one of the more prettier spots, and a nicer walk down than up). There are tons of camping sites and huts throughout the area, and if I had ultra lightweight equipment or could take that kinda weight on my back, I probably would have stayed there for a couple days. The hike is easy in most spots, with a wide and often-shaded track. There are a few mild uphill points, but nothing very strenuous. The nicest parts are the beaches along the way, and the ability to stop and relax along the way is what makes it worth the visit. As I only had about seven hours for hike, lunch, and beach relaxing, I regretted deciding to hike so much of it. Compared to Tongariro National Park and the Crossing/summit…it’s a rather boring walk that seems really long. Much of it is the same, and often you’re on a track that doesn’t give you too much of a view unless you do the extra meters down to the beach and then back up onto the trail. When you do, it’s definitely worth it. I stopped at Stillwater Beach, for example, and got to lie on my back for a bit on the beautiful sand – so peaceful and pristine. Still, the walk was a nice accomplishment, and a cool experience. Especially nice was getting to Torrent Bay before 12:30 p.m., so that I could do the 1-kilometer coastal walk through shallow pools as the tide was coming in. About 30 minutes later and I would have had to do the 4-kilometer inland walk.

While In New Zealand I’ve decided to do a bit of reporting, and chatted with the local Nelson Weekly’s editor Andrew Board. He kindly let me use a desk in their office so I could more easily report. And of course I paid them back for calls I made. It was a big help. They were very nice, and gave me some no-nonsense local perspective as well. I ended up doing a full on two days of work there. Tuesday night I was invited to dinner at the paper’s publisher’s house by him and his wife. The guy has an advertising background and had some very interesting thoughts about journalism in general, and the newspaper business in particular. He picked me up at my place at 6:30 p.m. and we drove out to their house in Richmond, about 15 minutes away. It’s a beautiful home, overlooking the city. They had a great setup outside on a veranda during sunset, and the meal was absolutely one of the best I’ve had in a long time. They offered me wine, beer, rum, soda, or water. I took some Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc. They had a cheese platter with strawberries, crackers and apples, and then some freshly barbecued scallops as a starter. Then we moved on to typically $130 NZ per kilogram whitebait, which was fished out of Golden Bay by Andrew’s uncle (I believe) just a few days earlier. The little sardine-like fish are often cooked omelet-style, served as a frittata in egg. They were pretty good, though someone told me not to pay attention to all the “little eyes” and it kind of screwed my appetite for them. After the whitebait, they served calamari, then beautiful salmon and also some breaded chicken. We also had salads on the side. Then for dessert a full-on fruit salad and New Zealand’s special hokey pokey ice cream – yum! It was delicious. Afterward we had tea and coffee…Then Steve took me back to my place via the scenic route so I could see the beach and coastline. I also got to see the Southern Cross in the sky at one of the more southern points it will be at.

While working on this story I’ve met other interesting people. One guy though, Kurt, is a fellow American originally from Denver and now living in Baltimore. He is one of those Renaissance men who was a chef, a teacher, and is a real estate investor. He spoke a lot about smart investments, and gave me some tips as well on real estate investing so I could take charge of my life, so to speak. We had a great meal at Lambretta’s in Nelson, before he left town to go back home Tuesday. But I really bring him up because in contrast Steve told me I needed to marry an ad guy so I could live the life I want and report my days away. It was a funny difference.

On Wednesday I ran into Michael, the Austrian I’ve met multiple times now, in Paihia, Rotorua, and now here. We went out for a drink – well at the hostel ultimately – and that was my last night in Nelson. Today was an early start and we’re nearly at Greymouth. We did stop for a walk along the beach, and these beautiful sandstone/limestone eroded pancake rocks (the blowhole was not really working since it wasn’t high tide). I’m feeling a bit bus-sick right now since the roads are so windy, so I think I will stop. More to come though since I’ve figured out this whole netbook on the bus thing. I did schedule my ice climb for Saturday, and am quite excited about it! Details later.

Note: This is being published about 12 hours after I started writing this...