Bye, bye North Island ... Hello sunshine! (mostly)

First off, apologies for the long delay in posting. As you'll read, Adam and I have been busy off-the-beaten-track ...

We didn't end up doing the Tongariro Crossing, as hoped. The Crossing is currently open to independent hikers, but closed to guided groups due to access issues involving private landowners. (To our surprise, it seems not everything in national parks is government owned.) And, the Crossing is still covered by ice and snow, with a 'moderate' avalanche risk, so it requires avalanche-related equipment, crampons, and ice axes (which are not for climbing but for self-arrest should you slip and start falling down the mountain!). Adam and I thought that it was just a wee bit too dangerous for us to attempt this without a guide, and certainly not relaxing. We were also told that since the whole Crossing is covered in ice and snow, we wouldn't actually get to see much of the incredible volcano-created thermal landscape that is the main attraction. That was the kicker for us -- we'd seen enough ice and snow in Toronto this winter -- and so decided on another day tramp. We did the Tama Lakes trek, which was a beautiful 5 hour hike between two of the three volcanoes, mostly above the tree line, through alpine tussock grassland. The highlight of the day though was seeing Mount Taranki, which is several hundred kilometres away. It was poking out of clounds that obscured everything around it, so it appeared completely unconnected from the ground below. It reminded me of the mythical Mount Olympus, home of the greek gods.

After our day of hiking in Tongariro National Park, Adam and I quickly changed our clothes, loaded into the van, and drove south. The night before it was very, very cold in the park and hence, very, very cold in the van overnight, and we were determined not to freeze again. We ended up driving all the way to Martinborough, in the south end of the North Island. It looks like a long way on the map, but was only about 5 hours drive. (Distances just aren't the same in NZ as Canada ...)

Although you may not have heard about Martinborough, it is one of NZ's main wine regions. The wineries there are all quite small, boutique style, and the region as a whole doesn't produce nearly as many bottles as Hawkes' Bay, Marlborough or Otago, but the emphasis is on quality. Also, a real attraction of Martinborough is that there are more than a dozen wineries that are within walking distance of the town centre. So on Sunday morning, our hosts at Martinborough Village Camping (an amazing little campground, btw) dropped us off 5 km away at one of the further vineyards, and left us to walk back to the campground, stopping for tastings and food along the way. What can I say, it was an excellent day. We visited 11 vineyards in all (we just couldn't handle any more than that) and tasted more wine than I thought possible in a short period of time. Martinborough (like most of NZ) excels at white wine, but also pinot noir, and Adam and I were in heaven tasting/drinking high-quality pinot, including several vertical tastings that were a real treat. At Vynfiends, we even managed to convince them to part with a bottle of their 2003 pinot, which was part of a special vertical tasting but was 'not for sale'. (Adam is now going to have to grill up a worthy dinner to accompany it.) The weather was also great, as Martinborough is one of the driest places on the North Island. Windy, but dry.

The following day (Monday), we had to leave Martinborough and head to Wellington. There wasn't much point in staying - the whole town seemed to have shut down after the weekend, and Adam and I were also moving slowly after our indulgences of the previous day. But we were almost immediately saddened upon arriving in Wellington - the weather was yucky and it was unfathomably windy. Literally, wind that could knock you over. (Wellington is the windiest city in the southern hemisphere, aparently.) In Wellington, we did go to the Te Papa museum, which is quite interesting, and worth a trip even for the non-museum types (like Adam). I got a final fix of Burger Fuel. And that's about all I can say that's positive. I'm sure Wellington is great, but the weather was so nasty (with no hope of changing) and our stay at a hostel there so horrible, that we decided to book a ferry ticket and cross the Cook Strait to the South Island.

And on the South Island, with one exception, we've had sunshine! It's still a wee bit cold (about 15 C in Nelson today), but sunny and beautiful. As soon as we arrived in the port town of Picton, which is quite nice itself, we started making arrangements to do the 4-day Queen Charlotte Track, located in the Marlborough Sounds along the north-east coast of the South Island. We also made a short side trip to Blenheim, the centre of the Marlborough wine region (although we restrained ourselves and only visited 3 wineries, in part because one of us had to drive).

The Queen Charlotte Track (QCT) is 71km long and travels (roughly) along a ridge between the Queen Charlotte and Kenepurhu sounds. Trampers take a 1 hour water taxi to the beginning of the track, then another water taxi from the end back to Picton. Happily, this was not a trek which requires tents. Throughout the track, there are lodges where trekkers can stay and the accomodations range from backpacker hostels to premium chalets. The first night we stayed in a backpacker room with a double, the second night we ended up (to our surprise) having our own cottage, and the third night we stayed at an eco-lodge and ended up with an upgraded suite as hardly anyone else was there. Not exactly roughing it.....We cooked our own meals in the shared kitchens at each of the lodges save for the last night where we treated ourselves to a fantastic meal at the eco-lodge (Lochmara Lodge). We also did some sea kayaking at Lochmara and soaked in their hot tub. The whole track, and especially Lochmara Lodge, are highly recommended. Where else can you walk through the woods all day, then enjoy a sunny afternoon sipping great Sav Blanc and eating phenomenal food? (If you don't fancy the walk, you can take a water taxi to any of the lodges.)

We did have rain on our last day of the tramp (although I had made a deal with the rain gods that if it held out for the first few days, I wouldn't complain about rain on the last day), and ended up cold and wet by the time the water taxi arrived in Anakiwa to pick us up and take us back to Picton. After a quick coffee in Picton, we bolted to Nelson, where the weather is once again sunny, and we are catching up on email and gathering supplies (i.e. food) for our trip into the Abel Tasman National Park/Golden Bay area where we will be rock climbing in Paynes Ford and trekking on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.