Meander: Nelson and Abel Tasman

Nelson is a beautiful town, nestled between the hills and the sea. It is a smallish place by British standards, the middle of town is smaller than Guildford. It has a very nice feel and many of the houses are charming small 'victorian' homes in the American style but with far more modesty. The town is green and leafy has a very nice cycle path along an old railway line although as with most cycle paths it stops starts and gets you lost. There was an enormous market last week filled with crafts, street performers, and yummy local or specialist produce. Surrounding Nelson are productive farms and small holdings most with trays of vegetables for sale outside and the orchards are laden with Rosy red apples. This is more perhaps what I expected of New Zealand.

Christof and I cycled from Nelson to Abel Tasman, an easy days ride although with some fun hills and views all the way across the bay back to Nelson and beyond. From Marahau we hiked along the coastal track in the national park, which is one of New Zealands 'great walks'. The route was all forest and coastline and the views along the coast were amazing, bright gold beaches blue sky green waters and lots of curious bays and inlets. It was however the easiest 25km have ever walked in a day. We got the water taxi, boat, back to Marahau which was also a lot of fun getting to see everything from a different perspective. It really looks like those pictures of tropical islands and harbours it is beautiful. Unfortunately I am writing this on my kindle so no pictures for a while.

We rented a kayak for the next day and paddled all around the islands and had lunch on a lonely golden beach. We saw several seals up close and also a penguin swimming around! The green sea was as still as a millpond and so we paddled maybe nearly 20km my arms were so tired! It was also great to see some of the sea birds up close too.

So it has been a fantastic week, beautiful scenery and lots of exciting things happening. I find it hard sometimes to think of anything to write, so many days cycling are rather similar now, the routine isn't very easy to write about. I get up and then have either porridge or eggs for breakfast, take the tent down and load the bike. Set out, try to get about 30km or more done before lunch I travel at roughly 15m an hour if not being very pathetic! Always starving by lunch time which is just as well as i am getting a bit bored of sweaty cheese and stale bread. Then back on the bike. Most days I try to do 60km or more but it doesn't always happen, and New Zealand is hard work for cycling. have given up thinking I ought to do more! The scenery is aways varied and often very beautiful. However as this seems to have been my life for weeks I haven't got much to write about. I have cycled over 1700km in New Zealand on the south island. Hostels are more widely available than campsites and they seemed to be filled with Germans. All of whom are very nice but it sees odd to find German the language of all kitchen conversations.