Hi!

It's so crazy how quick the time is moving on here...

Been quite a while since I updated this page here. Sorry for that. I will put on new stuff as soon as possible :)

As it's just a dial-up modem here in The Innlet Hostel @ Farewell Spit I can't upload any pix, so I try to at least give a rough idea what happend the last weeks ;)

From Motueka (where I could stay some night with a nice Kiwi family) I moved on for the Abel Tas Walk.

Was a bit pity that the first day walking (from Marahau to Bark Bay for those who know the area) was under gray sky with some rain every now and then, but then the 2nd part (up to Totaranui) was absolutely fabulous with sun, blue sky and even more blue ocean in the numourous bays along the way :)
I had planned to go back over the Inland Track, but spontanously decided to stay at the campsite in Totaranui and take the watertaxi back to Marahau on the next day.
Came out that it was a good idea, as the weather was again bad the next day and to have a look at the AbelTas from the waterside is definitely worth the money for the watertaxi.
After all it was a really nice trip (especially the great evening at the fire on the campsite in bark Bay :), but if I had another opportunity to do do it I would take more time for sure...

From Marahau I just moved on to Kaiteriteri for one night and from there went over Takaka Hill to the Rameka Track :)
That was absolutly worth the effort to get on top of the hill and over another baaaad gravel road in mid day heat to Canaan Downs where this lovely single track to Takak starts.
As it was raining the days before, it was in places quite hard to ride over the slippery roots and rocks through the forest with all my luggage on my back.
Nevertheless I loved (almost) every meter... Especially the flowy trail on the Project Rameka part (perhaps 50cms wide all of the time) was just perfect riding :)))))

Stayed in Takaka at the end of the day to have a good start for the last kms out to The Innlet hostel some kms down from the Farewell Spit.

And here I'm still stuck ;)
It's just an amazing place with a postive energy all around that is impossible to describe properly...
Aswell the people here are sooooo lovely. Seems to be that there are always special people at special places...
I came here and wanted to stay for some 3-4 night or so and I kept on prolonging my stay from day to day (in the end it will be a bit more then 4 weeks I stayed here ;).

Perhaps some of you "Innletians" find this here...
All the best wishes to all of you whereever you are!!!
Was (and still is) a fabulous time I was able to spend with you...
Thanks sooooo much for all the chats, the music evenings, the time chilling in the web or on the veranda or the beach or inside or...... and the positive energy!!!!!!! :)

cheers
Gerald

Just a short day today...
Only 30kms to cover between Takaka and the Innlet... I already found the adress of it in my GPS (I'm sooo glad I have that!!! Don't want to miss it here anymore) so it should be quite easy going...
So I started around 12 highnoon directly into the heat. ...and into the wind *damnit!!*
The road was not very interesting and the wind almost blew me off my bike coming from the front once again.
Had a 2nd breakfast after the first kms and decided to use the oppurtunity of travelling not far today and at slow speeds to basically listen to music and just cycle kind of by the way.
And that worked really fine, gladly :)

The only problem was, that the nice GPS I liked so much, didn't really get it that I just wanted to end up in the hostel called the Innlet and not at that waterfilled innlet that is several kms further out in direction of the Farewell Spit *grrrmpf*
So it wasin the end not only 30kms but another 50...

Anyways... I'm glad I made that way! :)


on the way between the booming megacities of Takaka and Collingwood ;)

On the 8th I made the move to Golden Bay over Takaka Hill and a sweet singletrail all the way down to Takaka I heard a lot about already.
Almost everybody did tell me that Takaka Hill would be "a reallt bad one" meaning it would seriously steep and long and and and and just mean.
So I was kind of interested in how it would turn out to be actually ;)
I wanted therefor start in the early morning to avoid the midday heat, but packing the tent and everything together took a bit longer then expected and so I decided not to hurry and had a nice breakfast on the beach before I went off (was round 10 by then) :)
The hill itself was indeed not too bad but by far not that hard as everybody told me, so I got up quite well with a few pauses to put the backpack down...
The view from the top then made the effort worth it :) *good bye Abel Tas - hello Golden Bay*
What I didn't know was that there is some "tiny" bit of gravel road between the top of the hill and Canaan Downs, where the Rameka Track should have his beginning...
Those 2hs on a windy, hilly, gravel road really costed me several litres of sweat as it was by then just 1 nidday and hot as hell.
Was glad to reach the little doc campsite over there and having - after a little snack - this nice singletrail leading through the forest.
It was not completly ridable with my pack, but still great! :)
Especially the Project Rameka part at the end was just a dream being ust as wide as a towel and suuuuper flowy :D
The thought was to go on a bit farther the Takaka, but after I arrived in Takaka I didn't really want to move on much more so I just stayed there for a night in the Barefoot Backpacker.


view over Kaiteriteri










top of Takaka Hill
































working my up that baaaaad gravel road, might look kind of exhausted cause of that...













however it's really beautifull up there (at least when you don't have to be focused on riding up there and start looking around you ;) )


was looking forward to that all day :)









on the upper part of the Rameka (on the lower part it was just too much fun to ride, so I didn't stop for pics ;) )

On the 3rd I started on my walk along the Abel Tasman coast trek...
Plan was to go outwards in 2 days and then back over the inland trek within 4 days or so.
As the weather on the first day was pretty cappy (just gray in gray the whole day), was perfect on the 2nd, but hen should be raining for the next days I spontaniously decided to stay in Totaranui rather the going on to Whariwharanghi Hut (I hope it's at least spelled almost right :) ).
Pitched my tent ~5m away from the beach with little way down there right before my "front door".
Was a beautiful sunset at the beach, with almost nobody around (don't to be here in high season with 900 other tent around here!).
On the next day it just worked out perfectly to dry out the tent, pack everything together before it statred to rain again.
Arranged a water taxi back to Marahau and chatted with two Americans I met the evening before.
Having a look at the Abel Tas from the seaside was absolutely worth the 50$ even in pretty heavy rain.
All in all was it a nice trek that was a bit too tourity for me.
Would like to do it a 2nd time nevertheless, but then with more time (for example to stay at least a night in the Floating Backpacker in Anchorage ;) )
We'll see if it works out finally...

Went down to the "beach" and played a bit with the self timer ;)

such a lovely place here at Eden's Edge Hostel...
Chris & Liz are sooooo nice people and their concept behind this brand new site is just brilliant!!! Would be a Must-Visit on a next visit of NZ in some years ;)

Hi!
Didn't have the time to sort out the pictures of the rounding of Lake Rotoiti yet... Sorry for that ;)
Before I put some pix of that walk on here I'd just show you where I stay at the moment :)
I went from Nelson on the lovely Moutere Hway to Motueka.
Was a great ride with lots to see along the road and wind coming - mostly - from the right direction :)
During the first - dull - km on the main road out of Nelson I finished the 2nd audiobook and for the rest I enjoyed the sound of Jimmy Eat World while riding smoothly at a speed of ~30km/h... Couldn't be better :)
Will stay in Motueka for some more days (hopefully incl a niiiice MTB Trek :) ) and then move on towards Abel Tas and Farewell Spit.

so much for the moment

greets from Motueka libray ;)

some impressions from Nelson...
Stayed after Nelson Lakes NP another 3 nights in the Shortbread hostel, before moving on to Motueka and Farewell Spit.

on the beginning of the trek the weather wasn't that good, but the trek itself kept it interesting...




sehr stilles Oertchen
(sorry don't know what that is in engl ;) )







that is the direction I will be heading for the next
hours




















from the open, wide area I'm following my way again into a nice forest...
already looking forward to the swingbridge that should be quite nearby ;)















and then finally even the sun is coming out :)
seems to be a perfect day for a long trek like that one








lovely different tones of green all over the place


















my first swingbridge to cross...
was good fun to see the river running underneath in a distance of 2ms while crossing it :)
















and another 1,5hs to the next little hut being almost in the middle of the whole trek, where I planned to make a little pause to eat some rice with curry paste (god I already hate curry, but it's the most practical thing to carry with...)









the coldwater hut directly besides the lake.
nice little place for a rest











always alongside the water, and every now and then changing from open parts...









...to parts inside the beech forest with lots of roots and stones to walk over...




















some balancing over fallen trees is also part of the program ;)












that waterfall was a bit off the trek but well worth a little detour...
Just the sandflies made it a bit difficult to make some photos with long shutter speed. What for are those damn little beasts???
Couldn't figure out any positive aspect of those creatures...
After that waterfall it was another ~3h walking back to the campsite which got a bit long in the end ;)
Was a brilliant day trip on the whole!!!