Abel Tasman to Wellington, South to North island (6 - 12 March 2008)
We were getting close to the end of our South Island trip as we winded our way through the Buller Gorge all the way to the Able Tasman National Park at the tip of the South Island. It was a full day’s drive and by the time that we parked our van at Old MacDonald’s Farm (I kid you not), we were exhausted! In fact, we were so tired that the noise from the primary school also camping could not even interfere with our good night’s sleep.
The next morning was an early rise - we had a good 8 hours of walking ahead of us. We headed into the park, geared with cameras, sunscreen, water and some lunch goodies. We walked all along the coastline with beautiful views of beaches, waves and islands (one of them is named Adele Island - thought you’d like that Adellie!).
We walked and walked and walked… It felt like the lunch spot was just never going to arrive. And it was then that we realised the advertised time for the walk that we were doing is the one way time, not the return time as we thought. So we had to pick up the pace to do double the time and distance before dark (the whole 23 kilometres of it!!). Lunch was a quick sandwich on the beach followed by a swift body break and then it was all the way back on the same route.
Needless to say, we were exhausted when we reached the car by 17:30. Eon still had enough energy to drive us all the way to Nelson. On the way, we just could not resist stopping at the KFC and indulging in the fatty goodness - a well deserved meal after a long day’s walk. Nelson, o my goodness, this town is like Benoni on steroids! And I am not talking about the production of Oscar winning actresses… Every single car is lowered, with tinted windows, a huge exhaust and a wing on the boot that makes night rider look like a puppy! We were quite entertained with the ‘psyche’ of the Nelson locals and we even got to camp among some permanent caravan residents 
The next day it was off to Picton to catch the ferry over the Cook Straight to the North Island. When we enquired about the fees, the ferry was just about to depart and so we were caught a bit off guard. We hastily grabbed what we thought was necessary for the ride and sped off onto the ferry embarkation ramp. The ferry cost us more than the two flights from Auckland to Christchurch, can you believe?
We reached Wellington after three and a half hours and drove ourselves into the city centre. We tried to get a hold of on of Eon’s previous colleagues who are now permanent residents in New Zealand, but we had no luck in getting a hold of him. So we killed time by hopelessly looking for parking in town. After paying an arm and a leg for parking, we had to hear the sales lady at Whitcoulls saying that they do not have a Lonely Planet for Chile (our next destination). We tried phoning Radley once more, but to no avail. So we decided to drive to Porirua (about 30 minutes drive from Wellington) to camp there for the night.
The next morning we were filled with renewed hope of getting in touch with Radley, so we took off for Wellington city centre once again. We decided to do some sightseeing while we were in town and went to Te Papa Museum. This is an absolutely amazing place! The displays are out of this world; with real size skeletons, a simulation of being in a house whilst an earthquake strikes and all kinds of other interactive goodies. But our excitement was instantly turned into anger when we arrived at our van and see that the wheel had been clamped. The two bully culprits were still there in the parking area, busy towing another car to who knows where! At first we tried to stay calm and figure out how this confusion had happened. We approached the two guys and asked them why they had clamped our wheel. They simply replied that we have parked in a closed car park and we needed to pay either $120 cash or $180 by credit card. Eon blew his top - how the heck were we supposed to know that the car park is closed. The guy got out of the car and showed us the A4 miniature sign on the rear of the parking fees board. There was absolutely nothing we could do - I even tried putting on my puppy eyes and explaining to the guy that we have been staying in $6 per night camp sites with no showers to keep within our budget. He did not budge and we had to fork out the dough. Eon lied and said we only had $100 on us, and luckily we got away with paying $20 less.
Really depressed, we drove to the botanical gardens. We had a bitter tasting sandwich (depression really has a way of affecting everything!) and decided to try and get a hold of Radley for the last time. If he was unavailable, we would flee from Wellington to a happier place.
At last! Radley answered his phone and within seconds we had a place to stay that night. We arrived at Radley’s place and met his lovely wife, Ruth and the rest of their family. That night we were spoiled with a proper home cooked meal and the red wine and beer were flowing! I also had the privilege of taking a long, hot bubble bath. Oh, how I miss these small luxuries…
We had such a great time there that we decided to stay another night. We spent the whole day catching up on internet admin and our website posts (I was far behind on this job!). And then the family came home from their Monday-workday and really pulled out all the stumps. We had a proper South African paptert with boerewors for dinner! Delicious!
The Neethling ladies taught me how to eat a Tim Tam. Tim Tams are a New Zealand product, a delicious chocolate biscuit covered in creamy chocolate. But the trick is in the way you eat it - you bite off two opposite corners, stick the one side into a steaming mug of coffee, suck until you can just taste the coffee and then indulge in the creamy chocolate-mouse texture of the rest of the biscuit. I hear this product is also available from Pick n Pay in South Africa, hint hint…
We left the next morning with heavy hearts - we were treated so well by the Neethlings. We had a wonderful time and we wished that there was something we could do to repay them for their gratitude and hospitality.
We made a quick detour to the South African shop that Radley told us about, to get Eon some biltong. Yes, he was smiling from ear to ear
Click on the image below to view gallery of Abel Tasman to Wellington: