Sailing Abel Tasman

We have spent the entire day in the sun aboard Alleycat, a well-equiped catamaran, off the coast of Abel Tasman NP so this update will be short and possibly scatter-brained. The work at the blueberry orchard has continued to be a fun experience. We will be moving on toward more tramping come the beginning of Feb. We have been fortunate the past few nights to view the McNaught Comet. I guess it will be with us for awhile and each night it is still spectacular, though difficult to photograph. Most of the pictures look a lot better on my camera's display. Onto the sailing! The weather was splendid. Tea and biscuits in the morning and seals aplenty throughout the day. Ate lunch, walked, and swam in Anchorage bay. Stopped at Split-Apple rock - that's Aut inside the apple. Watch out before it eats you! Cheers.

Other Pics Part 2 of below

South Island - Moutere Part 1

We've escaped our hosts in New Plymouth. The fit wasn't quite right, too long a story for the blog. Through our first month in NZ we've finally made it to the South Island. After another night in the wagon we made our way onto Bluebridge ferry and crossed the Cook Straight. We had beautiful weather and got to see a blue penguin swimming along with some dolphins. Our second day on the S. Island was spent at some of the world famous vineyards of the Marlborough region. We saw 5 vineyards and tasted heaps of wine. Our favorites were the dessert wines and a German wine I can't spell (Guwerztraminer?). We purchased one and are saving it for a special occasion (perhaps when we complete the 10-day trek around Stewart Island). On the 14th we arrived at our third WWOOF hosts house (Peter, Sue, Luke (7), Logan (11), and their Golden Retriever Roz). They are wonderful. We've dug trenches, herded cattle, weeded their organic garden, harvested and washed seaweed. Great food, great work. Oh yeah, they own an organic blueberry orchard and we've had plenty. We've found a sailing tour in Abel Tasman NP and plan to sail just after we leave Sue and Peter's farm. Two of the pictures accompanying this are of their adobe-built home and the northern view; fantastic. They are a veritable boat-load of knowledge for passive solar design, adobe techniques, and organic gardening. This is the WWOOF experience we have truly been looking for. Again, fantastic! We are attaching a few of our favorite pictures along with this blog. They will be a bit of a potpourri. Cheers!!!!

Tongariro NP

Here we are, atop Ngauruhoe with Ruapehu in the background. Pretty sweet hike - tough to the top (6oom elevation gain in 1km). This came in the middle of our 4-day backpack in Tongariro NP. The different ecotypes that the trail went through were fantastic (dry tussock grass plains, crater bottoms, NZ's only desert, sharp volcanic scoria, pumice and ash, Mordor moonscapes, and beech forests!). We picked up a third passenger today, an eight-foot section of our exhaust. With the help of a kind Kiwi, we are now in New Plymouth with a Harley/Toyota hybrid. Our next WWOOF is about 20km away and we'll get it all sorted later. A week here at the base of Mt. Taranaki in New Plymouth and then it is off to the South Island. Check out the past posts, they now have photos. Cheers.