Coastal Walks...with Photos

The things that seem to make each place different are the people and their hospitality (and their food). For instance on the Queen Charlotte Track, the first “hostel” (more like an apartment under someone’s house) we stayed at, the nice lady brought us a fresh muffin for our afternoon tea as we arrived. She later gave us some fresh fish for dinner from her day on the water, cleaned, filleted and only two hours old. She treated us more as guests in her home than just passers-by for the night.
The next night, we stayed at another hostel called Mahana Homestead. As we walked up, the people who own it were just arriving back from a vacation. They live in the house which acts as the reception, gave us some chocolate, and signed us up for dinner. We were told they were wonderful cooks and they offered meals so we opted for dinner. The house we stayed in was just behind theirs with incredible views of Queen Charlotte Sound. There was only one other person staying there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The next morning we kayaked a little right off the beach in front of the house to a cave where there were glowworms, but we didn’t have time to go in. I could have stayed at that place forever. Both of these hostels were really in the middle of nowhere, accessible mostly by boat, or a 2 hour, incredibly curvy road from Picton. Most of these people only go into town every week or so.
Alas, the water taxi picked us up to go back to Picton, but instead of a straight ride back, we ended up going on somewhat of a dolphin watching tour. We were the only ones on the boat and the captain spotted some dolphins up ahead so he took a detour. Being the playful things they are, the dolphins swam along side and underneath us for a while. It was incredible and completely unexpected. It’s all those little things that the locals do for people like us because they are so proud of where they live and they know how lucky they are.

We’ve taken an unexpected hiatus from the road for a few days. We intended to only pass through Greymouth, on the west coast of the south island, overnight on our way to the glaciers. But we have ended up staying four nights. We found an amazing hostel called the Global Village. It’s quite possibly the coziest place on Earth. It’s decorated with mostly African art and painting. There are little nooks, a constant wood burning fire, huge kitchen, the most comfortable beds yet, a cat, and really nice people who run the place. But the kicker is that they bake chocolate chip muffins for everyone each night. The man who owns the place walks around and passes them out. It really feels like home here, except I don’t remember my mom making muffins every night. She usually said the “kitchen is closed” at some point during the evening. We spent yesterday just lounging around, partly due to bad weather. Although we did go on a brewery tour, including 10 minutes of complete open-bar, where you can pull yourself a pint. Jon enjoyed that one.

While trying to pass the time away from the coziest place on Earth, we went on a caving adventure today. Neither Jon nor I had ever done any caving, but it was something I have always wanted to do and Jon went along, leaving behind his claustrophobia. After pulling on layer after layer of insulating clothing and gear we looked like giant penguins, barely able to move. The trek to the cave was the most mud I have ever encountered but being so bundled up in clothing and a wetsuit which I was not responsible for cleaning, it was fun to slosh right through. The gist of caving is that your only light is the one on your helmet, but with 10 people, you could see pretty well. We climbed over rocks, through water, slid down a teeny tiny waterfall which I almost didn’t do because it was so small I thought I would smash myself against the rocks. At the end we floated in innertubes with our lights off so we could see the glowworms on the ceiling. There were so many it was like looking up at the stars. New Zealand is known for its glowworms that live in caves throughout both islands. On the way out we clawed our way through what was called the “Tunnel of Love.” It was physically challenging and for anyone larger than Jon, it would be impossible to contort your body to get through some of the holes. A good time had by all. Even Mr.Claustrophobic.

Pictures
Queen Charolette Trail
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Abel Tasman Trail
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Drive on the West Coast to GreyMouth
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Misc. Shots..(artsy, boat ride to south island, Gay being scary)
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