Kiwi Land

After leaving the South Pole, I spent almost two months in New Zealand. It is an amazing country, with so much to do and see- incredible hiking, kayaking, wacky wild plants and animals, and 4 million sheep on the south island alone! I spent the first week driving around the coast of the south island with my friends Grace, Trudy, Chad and Jeremy. We rented a camper van and had a great time camping in quiet spots all over. After that, I spent a few days in Christchurch, just relaxing and greeting more friends who had just returned from the Ice. I stayed in a hotel that had pretty nice kitchens for the guests, so we went to the farmers market and bought all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables (which we had desperately missed while in Antarctica) and did a lot of cooking.
My favorite part of NZ was the backpacking- I did three trips, and each one was fantastic. I started out with the Queen Charlotte Track, which follows along the coastline of the Marlborough Sounds. The trail climbs up and down a ridgeline that often has water on both sides and great views. After that hike, I took the bus over to Nelson and met up with Travis, Trudy and Storm for a week of sea kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park. The paddling turned out to be pretty easy, so we had lots of time to explore, watch the seals, and lounge on the beach in the sunshine. After kayaking, we decided to go down to Hokitika on the West Coast to the annual Wild Foods festival. I also hiked to the Welcome Flat Hut, home of a delightful hot spring with mountains all around, and then the week after that I hiked the Travers-Sabine circuit in Nelson Lakes. The Travers-Sabine is an 80km loop that goes up and over two gorgeous passes. I enjoyed the perfect weather and was just awed by the scenery, and how few people were out there!
In between the hiking and paddling there was a lot of reading, sitting around with good friends, and general relaxation. We all felt that we deserved it after working so much.