Back in Nelson

The rain and overcast conditions which caused a lack of visibility made me decide to hitch hike out of Takaka today. I may as well be traveling somewhere as just sitting in a room doing nothing. I left my farmstay early and hitch hiked back to my hostel in Nelson in only one ride after waiting about five minutes. The driver that picked me up was a retired painter from England. He was very entertaining. The beautiful scenery along the ride was obscured by foggy wet rainy weather. Here and there the sun would pop out for a few minutes as we drove between showers but all in all in was dreary conditions.

Once at my hostel I booked my bus to Picton and my ferry ride to Wellington for tomorrow. I will spend a couple days in Wellington then catch a bus up about halfway to Auckland where I will spend a night. The next day I will finish the ride to Aukland. I just do not want to spend that many hours on a bus to do the entire trip in one day.

Here are a few crappy pics I took out the window as we flew along in the rain.

Golden Bay, Nelson area

I am currently in Golden Bay area of New Zealand. The area is known for beautiful scenery of high rugged hills and jagged coastline. Lord of the Rings used the location for filming part of the movie. Unfortunately for me the weather is rainy and overcast with very little visibility to see the sights.

I am at a very nice friendly farmstay right now but with rain in the forecast for the next three or four days. There is nothing for me to see or do here in the rain so I have decided to use the days for travel days and head back to Wellington via the Picton ferry. I will take the bus from here to Picton tomorrow then catch the ferry over to Wellington. Today I will bus back to Nelson. I have not had much luck with the weather while here in New Zealand. I have not minded all the rain that has plagued me everywhere I have gone. I have still enjoyed every single day here rain or shine.

a few pics taken between showers:

Danger on the Road

I have given up riding around NZ on my bike. I just ran out of time. Three months was just not enough time to see and do everything here. I leave for Australia in only 9 days. I am going to bus between cities from here on because I will have more time to do things instead of just riding hard up to Auckland.

Yesterday I took the bus from Christchurch to Nelson. On the way I watched a bike rider on the highway going in the opposite direction our bus was going in get hit by a truck that cut a curve short. My bus refused to stop citing safety concerns for its passengers. Before the downed rider disappeared from sight I did see him get up off the ground. I hope he is ok. Getting clipped like that can be deadly. He was lucky. I hope that never happens to me, upsetting thing to watch unfold. I could see the rear end of the truck moving toward the rider and knew it would hit him just before it did. I need to be extra careful in the future.

Fox Glacier to Greymouth then on to Christchurch

We spent a night at Fox Glacier and then the next morning we left for Greymouth. The drive took longer than we expected but we made it to Greymouth at sunset. We all stayed t Noah's Ark hostel and in the morning early we went out to Pancake Rocks then turned around and headed over Aurther's Pass to Christchurch. Not a lot to say about all the riding in a car for days for eight hours or more. I would rather ride my bike. I am more tired from the riding in the car than I am from riding my bike for eight hours. Go figure. I still enjoyed myself. More pics...