Hurunui Campsite

There isn’t much between Kaikoura and Christchurch except for a few stretches of seal covered beach. It’s nice, but we had a tough time finding a campsite. Luckily, our handy dandy atlas had a tent icon at Hurunui River Mouth, just south of Cheviot, so we headed to where the river meets the sea. The lovely bomb shelter-esque bathrooms and deserted camp sites were intimidating at first, but the sign that said “This camp is run on the honesty of campers” and the sunny weather decided it for us. We stayed and it was the best idea ever. Turns out the camping fee was only $4 per site – not per person, like most campsites in NZ – and the creepy bathroom had a mirror, two nice sinks, and full-on flush toilets…simple pleasures these days. There were even a few apple trees with apples still on em, not that we ever want to eat apples again. After night two, we went on a sweet barefoot hike along the river. The mud squishing through our toes was disgusting at first, but then we noticed thousands of bubbles coming from under the water and curiosity had us excitedly digging in the mud to find the source. We never could figure out what was creating the bubbles - maybe oysters or geothermal activity - but in hindsight we’re glad our digging didn’t lead to a geyser exploding in our face. Even though a few other campers came the second night and the mud ended up smelling pretty bad, we’ll remember Hurunui River as our own private getaway. We enjoyed a full moon, cooked some good dinner, and got some much needed quiet time on New Zealand’s beautiful East Coast. Two thumbs up.

Kaikoura

Kaikoura means "eat crayfish" in Maori, and while we hear the local giant crayfish are a must-have delicacy, we spent all of our time in Kaikoura looking at seals. THERE ARE SO MANY SEALS IN KAIKOURA! Today's post is dedicated to my 2 year-old nephew Colt. He's one of our most faithful readers, and he likes seals. Enjoy buddy.
Peek-a-boo Mr. Seal!	Seals love to swim, just like you.
Can you count how many seals there are?	Seals love naptime, and so should you!
Baby seals are called pups.	This is an adorable little seal pup that made Shawn scream like a girl and run away because he swears it was a big, angry mommy seal.
This seal is on a rock.	This seal is on the grass, and Shawn has a new mullet haircut. Silly seal! Silly Shawn!
This is my new friend.
We shared a moment.
Then I had to go!
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Hiking the Abel Tasman National Park

Carolyn and I loved the kayaking portion of the Abel Tasman, and while we would have been happy to just hop on a water taxi back to town, we decided to explore the trail back on foot. We started Day 3 at Onetahuti where we dropped off our kayaks the night before. The hiking trail actually goes further north past Onetahuti (the entire thing is 52 km), but spending six or seven days in the wilderness seemed a little out of our league. We’re a bit lazy if you hadn’t noticed, and generally unprepared, so we skipped the most northern portion of the park and headed south. The trail hugs the same golden sand beaches and granite rock formations we had seen from the kayak, but it was fun to see it all from a different perspective. Right off the bat we plunged into rich forest environs filled with birdsong (thanks again to the Birdsong Trust). I whistled my face off to the fantails that filled the tree branches, and within a few minutes we had a pretty good crowd of birds hopping from tree to tree along with us. They are incredibly social birds, and will dance for anyone that seems interested. They also like to swoop right in front of your face. It's a jolting experience. A lot of the trail is nestled in the trees with frequent scenic lookouts, keeping you fairly cool as you wind your way up and down gradual (and some not so gradual) ascents of the granite cliffs. We took the occasional break for photo-ops and snacks, but for the most part the hike is extremely do-able. I wore hiking boots, but Care did the whole thing in Chacos. A unique feature of this particular Great Walk is the existence of four tidal crossings at Bark Bay, Torrent Bay, Onetahuti Bay, and Awaroa. The tide depth in the park can fluctuate by as much as 5.2 meters, meaning that at high tide, some of the trails are submerged. Low tide and high tide are generally 6 hours apart, so most of the crossings are only passable during a 4-hour window, 2 hours before and after low tide. Get a tidal chart from the Nelson or Motueka i-site and do some planning ahead of time, or else you’ll have to: Take the high tide trail (which can add several kms/hours to your trek) Swim. Not recommended. Wake up at 5 am because you have 6 hours of hiking ahead of you and the next low tide isn’t until 5 pm. Of course Care and I didn’t time our tidal crossings well, forcing us to take Option A at Bark Bay, and Option C at Torrent Bay. Don’t stress about the Onetahuti crossing – there’s just slightly less beach to walk on at high tide. In contrast, the Awaroa crossing further north is long. Don’t muck around with it. Time it right, or you’re going for Option B. As disgruntled as we were about our early start at Torrent Bay on Day 4, the stillness of the morning was pristine. The best part is when the track emerges from the tree line to expose amazing views of the park’s bays and islands. One of the most stunning views is from the peak atop Anchorage Bay, looking north at dawn. New Zealand is called “Aotearoa” in Maori which literally means “land of the long white cloud”, and Care and I have been lucky to see an almost non-stop parade of epic cloudy sunsets. The sun lights row upon row of clouds on fire each evening…probably every morning too but we catch wayyyy fewer of those. It’s always amazing, but the Abel Tasman was exceptional. We bought a tent just for this trip, and in retrospect, I wish we had bought a small cooker (cookers are not provided in the Abel Tasman DOC huts or campsites). Cereal, PB&J sandwiches, and cold pasta held us over for four days, but the first thing we did after the hike was inhale five pizzas at 623 Bar’s all-you-can-eat pizza night. Ignoring a few sandfly issues (don’t forget your DEET!), it’s easy to see why the Abel Tasman National Park is the most visited park in New Zealand. Whether it’s by land or sea, everyone can easily and affordably enjoy the pristine beauty of the natural surroundings. We definitely recommend the kayak/hike combo. It’s a sweet taste of both worlds.
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Kayaking the Abel Tasman National Park

After three brutal days picking apples, Care and I decided it was time for a well earned vacation, so we headed north to Marahau, the gateway to New Zealand’s most popular national park – Abel Tasman. Trips in the Tasman usually vary between one and seven days, though most people spend just one or two days hiking, kayaking, or just cruising on a water taxi. We opted for a four-day combo adventure – kayaking north and then hiking back south. FYI, campsites have to be booked ahead of time, and reservations for heaps of different kayak companies can be made for free at the Nelson or Motueka i-sites. We chose Kahu Kayaks because they were the cheapest, and they turned out to be a really awesome, friendly company too. A bunch of factors such as wind direction, weather, water taxi schedules, and most importantly the high tide charts should play a part when planning your itinerary. We had to decide which was the better option – kayaking north against the wind and then hiking back south, or taking a water taxi up and kayaking south. So after thinking about it for like five minutes, we chose to kayak first…cuz we felt like it. We ran into a few bits of chop and wind, but all in all the two days kayaking were amazing. We explored Fisherman’s and Adele Islands – homes to seals and penguins – and had lunch on a secluded golden sand beach that can only be reached from the water. We shot some “rapids” (which just means we got a little too close to the rocks) and splashed around for a while. Our first night’s stay in Anchorage Bay was a bit sandfly-infested, but the great facilities made it a worthy stop. Our second day in the kayak was a lot more steady (Carolyn steered). I heard a rumor that she’s used to spending time in a boat, but I can’t remember where… We lucked out with a little blue penguin sighting early in the morning – apparently they’re really shy and spend most of their time way out in the ocean fishing, so we were really excited to see one float past us in the bay. In the afternoon after a solid paddle north, we passed “Foul Point” where we tried not to capsize so we could investigate a lesser known seal colony at the northern edge of the Park. Our efforts were rewarded when a few of the males danced in the water for us and played hide and seek under our kayak. We also spotted some 4-month old baby seals on the rocks, but Care was disappointed that she couldn't convince them to jump into the kayak and ride home with us. Day two ended with another secluded beach picnic and a mellow paddle into Onetahuti Bay Camp. There Kahu Kayaks picked up our kayaks and garbage and dropped off our backpacks, all at no extra charge, letting us prepare for our two day hike back to the start of the trail. But more on that adventure next time…

"Seal Sighting" - a comic by Shawn Forno

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Destination Guide: Anchorage Bay, Abel Tasman Park, NZ by Shawn Forno The Abel Tasman National Park – New Zealand’s smallest national park – is by far the busiest, with a wide array of one to five day hiking, camping, and even kayaking options available for the casual to committed tramper. The largest and most popular campsite...read more

Motueka

Motueka…man this place haunts my dreams. Care and I came to this hamlet in apple picking country with high hopes of landing a job in the fields and getting our hands dirty with a real “Kiwi experience” underneath the summer sun. Little did we know that the worst thing that could happen to us was getting our wish. Our job search started with online applications and endless phone calls to uninterested orchards who were “full for the season” even though Motueka's harvest hadn't even started. We persevered and enlisted the help of the local picking job agency for over a week to no avail. Freedom camping near the ocean fed salt baths on the edge of town lost its appeal, and we wore out our welcome with the librarians/guardians of the only free WiFi in town. After some more time bashing our brians against message boards and job listings we pulled out our secret weapon – charm. Oh that’s right, we got mad charm. We’d visited the same lady - Anne - for over a week in the picking job placement office, and she'd come to recognize us amidst the sea of eager backpackers. We were bright eyed, polite, deferential, and now – desperate. We flattered her and thanked her and did everything to put this lovely middle-aged lady in our pocket. After a few eyelashes were batted and a sighing, “thank you so much for trying” was given, we left her office ready to give up and head south. No more than an hour later our phone rang. Who was it? Anne offering us work with Birdhurst Orchard the following morning. Shazaam - mad charm. Little did we know our Motueka fairytale was about to become a nightmare. But more on that next time…

Kaiteriteri Beach

Kaiteriteri Beach is a small golden sand beach just north of Motueka, and honestly is something that Care and I would have overlooked were it not for my Dad. For those of you who don’t know, my dad was born in Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand. He was raised in Waimate (Otago) for most of his young life before moving to the States when he was 18. He’s told us kids a few stories about life on the farm in New Zealand and about some of the stuff he did as a kid, but New Zealand was always so far removed from my suburban Californian childhood that the memories he shared never really stuck - they just didn't have enough context. That’s a large part of the reason I'm in New Zealand for this year of tramping and exploring – to sharpen the hazy edges of my family history here and to give those stories context. This finally happened when my dad told me about a little beach he used to visit as a kid – Kaiteriteri Beach. Kaiteriteri is a popular holiday destination, especially with kayakers eager to explore the Nelson coastline near Split Apple Rock. The beach is great and sunny weather typical of the area (Nelson is considered one of the sunniest spots in New Zealand) greeted Care and I as we lazed around on the sand. But the best part was actually setting foot in a place where my dad played as a kid. I’m a big fan of physically experiencing the sites of historical events - like walking around Rome on the same paths that great Romans had tread millenia before. It fills me with an indescribable sense of connection to the things I've read or heard about. It’s magical. So even though I know the waves aren't the same ones my Dad swam in, the sand he played in washed out to sea long ago, and the sandflies that attacked me are only distant ancestors of the ones that bit my dad here 50 years ago, I felt kinship to a dormant side of my family tree. I found context amidst the sand and waves and bugs on this little bay in the South Island of New Zealand. And it feels really good.

Nelson

Oh Nelson…what can I say about you? Robbery, apple picking, all you can eat pizza deals, freedom camping, the beach, the library – all of these things shaped our time in the principle city of the Nelson Region on the South Island. Freedom camping is the only way to stay in Nelson for any extended period of time, and Care and I parked at our fair share of locations. The three that were the most effective were (in order of ease): The Kinzett Terrace carpark at the north end of town Tahunanui Beach on the west edge of town The carpark near the yacht club – surprising but true The overall attitude of people in town towards freedom campers is begrudgingly accepting. Nelson is a focal point for trampers headed to the Abel Tasman National Park and the West Coast, as well as backpackers looking for fruit picking work, so they get that people are going to be loitering for a bit. The economy in the area depends heavily on tourist dollars and low-paid backpacker picking labor, so during the apple season the town sets aside a few areas where they turn a blind eye to campers – most notably Kinzett Terrace. We actually got a printed flyer from a security guard telling us it was ok to sleep there. But Tahunanui Beach has more amenities like water, cold showers, toilets, beach access, and a small library annex with free WiFi, so it's a better fit for a lot of short-term campers. For long-term campers like us, pricey holiday park accommodation simply isn’t an option. So we did run into some hassles, and we had our car broken into at one point, but that was in the middle of the day and didn’t happen at any of the sites mentioned above. We saved a lot of money by staying in Nelson 16 nights over the course of a month, but we're still a bit undecided on whether it was worth all the effort. Freedom camping really makes you appreciate the simple luxuries of running water, sinks, and toilets inside a house.
Aside from all that, Nelson is great. The Information Site is helpful and well staffed, public bathrooms are everywhere, the movie theater has current films, a few bars in the area serve great brews and have WiFi, and there is free (but slow) WiFi at the central library. Care and I were at the library a lot – it’s where this blog was born - and we enjoyed our stay in town. Drink and food deals exist at different places throughout the week, but our favorite spot was 623 Bar. On Wednesdays they have all you can eat pizza for $15. Done. Care and I actually went there for St. Patrick’s Day and scarfed ourselves into a coma on five different gourmet pizzas, including one deliciously rich banana chocolate dessert pizza. We waddled out of that place exhausted but proud. It’s hard to sum up Nelson into one post, yet it’s not quite worthy of being split up into more. Should we have stayed as long as we did? No. Were parts of it really cool? Sure. Freedom camping, free WiFi, and pizza, pizza, pizza. Not a bad combo, but Care and I were happy to move on.
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Wellington - Part One

We finally made it to Wellington! Home to Parliament, the Te Papa Museum, diverse culture, the ferry to the South Island, surf, sand, nightlife, friends, and more cafés per capita than any major city in the world, “Swellington” is just too much to write about in one post. So we’ve split this amazing metropolis into a Five Part (S)Wellington Extravaganza! Part One – Thank You Note. My mom always taught me to write thank you notes right away before you forget, so here goes – Thank you thank you so much to Rich and Merridith, and to Joan for setting us up with them. You guys were amazing tour guides and cultural ambassadors for Kiwis – never mind that Merridith is from Maryland. These two rock stars not only drove us around the cool parts of town, they made us feel like we were part of a “group” – a hard feeling to get on the road. The first stop was the beautiful rugged west side of the bay where we enjoyed even more tide pool exploration, hiked a bit, snagged some epic views, and talked about travel blogging – check out their award winning travel blog to see how the pros do it. If that wasn’t enough, they took us out to dinner and introduced Care and I to the deliciously weird Taiwanese treat – bubble tea. Even Care liked it, so that’s saying something. Just when we thought we’d worn out our welcome, the fun continued. Rich was all, “Oh hey guys, you wanna go check out my family’s rad bach?” (NZ for “beach house”). We tried to play it cool, so I was all, “Pssht, I guess. I mean we have a few minutes to kill...” And Care was like, “Whatevs, yo.” It was AWESOME. We surf kayaked (insanely fun/hard) and then got the best fresh fruit ice cream in “sunny Otaki” on the Kapiti Coast – home to the most expensive ice cream in New Zealand...per capita. Later that night they drove us up to see the view from Mt. Victoria at night. The twinkling lights that hug the bay are lovely. The hits kept coming when we went to a small group session for their church, ARISE, and got to take part in a fun evening with Kiwis in an apartment above busy Courtenay Street. It was so welcoming to interact like a local. Finally, we went to the Sunday night service of ARISE and got to see an active, young church in New Zealand – a real treat for us. The people in the congregation were wonderful, and we enjoyed a great afterglow dinner with some of them at a café. Despite all the radness, the best part of our new homies was that we finally had someone to use all of our free text messages with. We got 100 free txts within NZ when we loaded up our phone, so we blitzed them with nonsense txts. “hey bff! wut r u up 2 now guyzzzzzz? LOL! ttyl, xoxo.” Sorry yo. Rich and Merridith are stalwart travelers with huge hearts and a real sense for what it means to be away from home. The craziest thing about their selfless generosity is that they had just gotten back from their 9-month trip around the world, the day before we called them. Who has the energy to do all that for two people they’d never met, right when they got back? Rock stars – that’s who. It was the best way to experience Wellington, and Care and I will always see the city through Rich and Merridith colored glasses. That doesn’t sound quite right, but you get the idea. Thanks a million guys. Hope to see you again soon.

Destination Guide: Courtenay Street, Wellington, NZ by Shawn Forno The best food, fun, nightlife, and culture of Wellington is found on Courtenay Street. This funky locale just off Manners Mall at the south end of the civic center houses a pedestrian thoroughfare where tourists and locals alike meander past dozens of designer shops...read more

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Oakura Tide Pools

Freedom camping is a strange thing – once you start, it’s hard to stop. The fun of freedom camping started when Care kept track of the nights we paid to camp and the nights when we found a great spot and just winged it. Over the past few weeks the list showed a growing number of freedom camping nights until the scales finally tipped to make “freedom camping” our accommodation of choice at Oakura Beach. This little stretch of boardwalk and sand 10 km south of New Plymouth isn’t all that much, just a public restroom, showers, and water taps, but waking up thirty feet from the water makes up for a lot. For example, on our second day here grey clouds moved in, snuffing out any hope of a sunny day on the shore. However, for some reason we took a nature walk along the beach to the scattered boulders and shallow tide pools just a half km from our campsite. Next thing we know we’re picking up eleven-armed sea stars (we looked it up and that’s their actual name), pointing out other smaller different starfish (which we didn’t look up, but are pretty cool regardless), getting into staring contests with crabs, touching the sticky tentacles of sea anemones, fording streams, and planting stick trees. Care loved it, and it reminded me of home. What can I say, living for free is addicting.
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The Three Sisters

The atlas that came with our van has these great little icons for all sorts of interesting places to hike, camp, surf, and generally…see stuff. To Carolyn’s never-ending frustration it even has Lord of the Rings film location sites, like Mt. Doom. The icon for these spots is – you guessed it – a golden ring. Anyway, a different one of these icons - a shiny star - is for geographical landmarks, which is cool because as extensive as our *cough* “research” is, we could never read about every great thing to see and do in New Zealand. So, luckily it was one of these icons that showed us the location for today's blog. A place called “The Three Sisters.” When we pulled over at the location of this site we just followed the brown signs and parked by the beach. More signs pointed us to a short hike around a cliff. Only problem was that the tide was obviously coming in and the cliff blocked whatever it was we were supposed to see. After a second of "what do you wanna do? I dunno, what do you wanna do?" we ignored the rising tide which promised to cut off our exit. What can I say, we had faith in that little star on the map. It’s a good thing we did. The Three Sisters is this amazing rock formation jutting out of the water along the rugged sandstone coast. It’s a lot like the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road in Melbourne, Australia. Erosion wore away the soil around the base of each pillar leaving each majestically stranded in the sea. Turns out a few years ago one of the pillars fell over, so technically it’s just the Two Sisters, but there are a few other bluffs and arches forming, so I’m sure the two ladies will have a younger sibling in a few hundred years. In case you’re wondering, yes, the tide did come in, and yup, we got pretty wet walking/swimming back to the van. But we loved our little off the grid adventure because we didn’t have any expectations, so they were more than exceeded. We love not knowing what each day will bring, and while we might get a little wet for not planning according to the tide charts, the adventures are worth the smelly shoes.
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Our Endless Summer - Raglan

Have you ever seen The Endless Summer, arguably the most influential surf movie ever made? No? You should, it’s awesome. Anyway, this 1966 classic follows two surfers on their quest for perfect waves in a season jumping jaunt around the world. One of their most impressive stops is the little known (at the time) break at Raglan, on the west coast of the North Island, New Zealand. The movie catalogues the insanely consistent break with a peeling left that stretches over 100 meters. For you landlubbers, that’s a looong wave. I was obviously stoked to surf “the best left in the world.” However, when we finally got to Raglan – which was a few hundred km out of our way to Wellington – I was greeted with an ocean as flat and smooth as glass. Seriously, no waves at all. Anger. Disappointment. Waste of gas money? What happened to everything magically working out for us without any planning? How is it possible that one of the most reliable waves in the world pooped out on the one day I came to shred it? That’s right – I said “shred.” Meh. It happens. I guess the summer had to end sometime. It just stinks that it ended when I came to see it. Maybe next time I head up to Raglan I’ll even...oh, I dunno...check the surf report.
The drive to Raglan wasn't a total waste - here are some pics from the beautiful Waikato region. This photo album requires Flash. If your device does not support Flash, you can view the web album on Picasa.

Mount Maunganui and Tauranga

It’s a strange feeling to head east, leaving the safety and familiarity of Auckland behind us. We’ve taken our time getting to the jumping off point of the trip - vacationing in Fiji and staying in Auckland for weeks building Flash. Even driving up to Northland felt safe because we knew we’d swing back through Auckland to stay with Pete and Michelle again. But now that Hot Water Beach is behind us, we seriously have no idea what we’re doing. It was the last destination that we knew anything about. We're finally traveling by the seat of our pants, and it's an awesome feeling.

	The first stop on the “we’ve got no plan at all” leg of the voyage was Mount Maunganui – and it was sweet. We freedom camped right next to the water, and climbed the deceptively tall mountain at the mouth of the harbor. The 360 degree views of the bay, the beach, the ocean, and a long, thin, sandy island that’s actually a forest preserve are amazing. But the best part is that from the peak you can see the waves stacking up like corduroy. Carolyn chased down a few pocket-sized sheep for a photo-op on our way down as I ran to get my board. Seriously – best waves of the trip. Good size waves (overhead), peeling rights, beautiful sun, and best of all – no insane paddle out define Mount Maunganui's surf. A few hours later I got out, exhausted but happy, and Care and I watched the sun go down on the water. It wasn’t as cheesy as it sounds. After that we saw Avatar. Speechless. The “we’ve got no plan at all” plan is awesome.

Destination Guide: Mount Maunganui and Tauranga by Shawn Forno Mount Maunganui, the 256 meter mountain that guards the entrance to the city’s bustling harbor, is the namesake for this laidback jumping off point to the Bay of Plenty in the North Island. Mount Maunganui's gradual ascent and beautiful views provide just the right environment...read more