We seem to be getting better at this already: it only took about an hour to pack up this morning! We even had time to relax in the living room at the hostel and have a cup of tea while we worked on the jigsaw puzzle that was in progress on the coffee table. And we had exactly the right amount of food left over from last night to make a packed lunch of delicious sandwiches.
Then it was back to the ferry terminal and onto a big inter-city bus (“coach” for British readers) that took us to Nelson, which is the gateway to our hiking in Abel Tasman. The journey was a couple of hours, partly because it took a detour via Blenheim, but this gave us nice views of the wine country down there. The first part of the trip ran along the valleys, with mountains in the distance on both sides. Coming out of Blenheim it was fascinating to see the contrast between the views on either side of the bus. To the north was green forested mountains, while to the south was an arid-looking sand-colored landscape.
After Blenheim, we passed through Renwick and Havelock before the road climbed through a windy mountain pass and down into Nelson. On this section we were surrounded by a landscape of moderate sized hills and mountains, but what we found most interesting was the fact that there has obviously been recent and very extensive clear-cutting, and in many cases re-foresting, all the way to the tops of the hillsides. There were stark lines between sections of evenly planted conifers, bare hillsides, and areas of natural-looking vegetation. We'll have to read up on what's going on here, but it all seemed shocking to us, since clear-cutting has been banned in Vermont for decades, and it seems a shame because the natural vegetation has much more varied colors and textures than the conifers that appear to have been planted to replace it.
Nelson is also on the water, but facing west on the opposite side of the Marlborough Sounds from Picton. As we approached the town, we had striking views across huge sand flats with mountains in the distance. We're now settled in for a night at the “Paradiso” hostel. We're in the overflow room (due to a mix up on their part) but it seems nice enough to us, and most importantly there is a pool here, which the kids were very excited about! They jumped right in, while Rachael went to the store for pasta and vegetables, then we all enjoyed a huge meal in an attempt to fatten ourselves up before our three days on the trail. An added bonus was a local pub that sells their brews cheap in recycled soda bottles, so we finished up the day with several glasses of excellent stout!
We have some repacking and restocking to do tomorrow morning, then we head out to the base camp at Abel Tasman to begin our first real hike. Apparently the forecast is for rain, but we have our waterproofs and we're determined to have fun anyway. Next posting will be when we get back.
