|
Ok, buckle up kids. Its time to go on another long journey into the recently abnormally long emails from Andrew! This is the first email I have sent since I started traveling around the two islands, so that means I have a lot to tell you!
I left Wellington on February 15, and man, it was a good thing I left then. I'm not sure if any of y'all heard, but there were massive floods on the north island of New Zealand and that included Wellington. I crossed the Cook Strait on the Interisland Ferry the day the storms began. Holy shit! I have never seen waves as big as these. They say the Cook Strait crossing is the roughest ferry crossing in the world, and now I know why! 30 meter waves! I'm not exaggerating! 30 friggin meters! The instant we got into the strait, people started throwing up. And when one starts they all go! There was a line to go to the toilets, but no one could use them because there was a head in every one including the jons and sinks! Staff was walking around with rubber gloves, vomit bags, and bottles of air freshener being sprayed as they walked. I was fine, no food in my belly, so me and a mate went cruising around the boat having a good ole time. On the top deck, in the weather, was the most fun. Wind was blowing so hard, we had to change our stance to keep from falling down. Whenever we had to climb some stairs or go down them, we timed it when the boat was rising or falling down a wave. We went to the very front of the boat where, oddly enough, most people were sitting (and where most sick folks were, or dumbasses as I like to call them). This is where you feel the boat going up and down the most. As the boat would rise, you would be pushed down by g's, and as the boat would descend, you would get negative g's and rise. I had to brace myself on the ceiling! The waves crashed over the bow like it the movies. The water splattered all over the windows and then two seconds later the wind blew the window clear. Pretty damn cool if you ask me. You would think that the dumbasses that were sick would move to the back where the rise and fall aren't so dramatic, but hey, that's why they are dumbasses! Turns out on the return trip back across the strait later that day (I wasn't on the boat, but my mate was), a truck with some pokie machines on it (slot machines) tipped over and crushed a couple of cars. That’s when they decided it was too rough to keep the ferries running. They cancelled them the next day too, so good thing I got across!
As you can see, the weather was crap. Once I got across the strait, I headed to Nelson to spend the night. Nelson has the most sunny days in New Zealand and it’s amazing, but true. When I arrived about 4pm, the weather was about 25 degrees (around 80 I think for us Americans) and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky! Odd?! It was a Sunday in nelson, so nothing was open. Yep, that’s about it for nelson.
The next morning we left with our final destination being Westport. The route would take me in a loop around the south island starting on the west coast and back up to Wellington. We headed to a small area called Kaiteriteri. Ok everyone, repeat after me, k-eye-tary-tary. Good job! It’s on the Abel Tasman national park. The weather was fantastic, so I decided to go sea kayaking. Went a couple of K's down to a rock called split apple (I have pictures ill have to show y'all) to a picture perfect beach with golden sand, blue water, green trees, and a small cave. I got sunburned and then got back on the bus to Westport. It’s amazing how fast you get burned here. No joke, 5 minutes in the sun without sunscreen and you are burned. They say its cause of the ozone hole, but I have learned that's a small part of the reason. The hole rarely comes over New Zealand. A major reason is they don't have the pollution to filter out the sun as much! Westport sucked. I don’t know why anyone would want to go there. I think it’s mainly a nightly stop for most traveling down the south island. Well, you can go whitewater rafting about an hours drive north, but that’s about it.
Continued...
|
|
