Hey, everyone! The journey continues. In the most recent blog post, I had traveled from Queenstown to Greymouth. And now, I’ve traveled from Greymouth to Abel Tasman National Park. It has been a full on week, with some rest days here and there. Read on below!

Great Coast Road

I didn’t do too much in Greymouth other than post my blog and grab some food. I stopped by the ocean in the morning and after that, I left town to continue on with my journey. Just after leaving town, I saw some wild goats on the side of the road. I texted my brother about how I saw goats and how it was a good omen for the day lol (he loves goats).

The first adventure of the day was stopping at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. My friend Daniel had told me about them months prior.

The walk was pretty brief, maybe 30min in total, but I took my time there. I thought the rocks were pretty incredible. I’m not exactly sure why they look the way they do, but the short answer is: erosion.

Not only were the rocks beautiful, but there were also blowholes throughout the area. For some of them, you wouldn’t see anything at all and then all of a sudden – WHOOSH! A loud noise and a powerful gust of what looked like steam came out of a crack in the earth. Others were more obvious. One place was called The Surge, and the water crashed back and forth against the walls, seemingly trapped between walls of rock.

There was another blowhole where the water came crashing in out of nowhere.

It was a super cool area. And there were terns hanging out on the rocks!

I continued on. The coastal drive was absolutely beautiful – coined The Great Coast Road. I couldn’t help but compare the name to Great Ocean Road in Australia. It really was great!

Next stop was to check out a little cave. Remember how Marion and I almost went caving the other week? Well, this time there was no water and so I ventured into the cave for all of… five minutes. It’s spooky to go in there alone! And there was no signage that said how long the cave went on for, etc. No way. It was still cool to walk inside of, though.

I then stopped at the Truman Walk, which is a quick fifteen minute walk that led to a pretty beautiful spot. There was a small cove with a trickle of a waterfall falling down from the cliff face. Unfortunately, the waterfall didn’t really show up on camera that well. While at the spot, I had a conversation with a Department of Conservation ranger. He asked me about my travel, where I’m headed, etc. He started talking about caves and I mentioned how I’d just explored a tiny bit of one. I explained my hesitance of going alone. He proceeded to give me recommendations on caves to check out for the next five minutes haha. Dude really loves his caves!

I checked out an area called Tauranga Seal Colony which had… you guessed it, seals! Although, it didn’t have nearly as many as I was expecting. Always cute to see seals, although I’ve seen them enough at this point that the luster has worn off a little bit.

Afterwards, I drove to Westport before reconnecting onto Highway 6. I still had a while left to drive but I was on a mission to get to Nelson Lakes National Park before dark. That was where I would be staying the night at a campsite.

After winding through Buller Gorge, I finally arrived, with some daylight left. I went on a short walk around the area and ate some food. Before dark, I went to the lake and was surprised to see a long finned eel staring at me. This was the first time I’ve ever seen an eel during the daytime before. Lovely!

In the evening, I went on a night walk in search of kiwi. No such luck, but I did once again hear them off in the distance. I did spot two deer, though!

Finally, time for bed. It had been a big day.

Little Kaiteriteri

Once morning came, I left the campsite and drove towards Nelson. I had plans to meet up with my friend Daniel who was letting me stay with him for the next two nights. We had met when he was living in Queenstown but he had moved back home to Nelson earlier in the year.

From Nelson, I drove another half an hour to get to his home. It was early afternoon at that point and other than doing laundry, having a warm shower, and relaxing, I didn’t get up to much. I admired the view from his home – overlooking an estuary that fills with water and drains out depending on the tide.

In the evening, Daniel lit a fire. We had cheese, crackers, and chutney. For dinner, he had made a couple of curries, papadam, and other delicious Indian foods. Yum! While it was really nice to catch up with Daniel after not seeming him for a while, it was turning into a struggle to stay awake. My body needed rest and so around eleven, I went to bed.

The next morning was fairly relaxed as well. Daniel had some work stuff to do so I did yoga on the lawn and read a book. In the early afternoon, we went for a drive. We ventured through various neighborhoods, where Daniel explained things to me. This was a building his grandfather built for the town, this was where he goes biking, this is where he and his friends accidentally burnt down a tree when they were younger, etc. Eventually, he took me to Little Kaiteriteri, a stop along the South Island’s Golden Bay. And how beautiful it was. With the way the sun shone on the beach, it truly looked golden. What a sight to see!

I climbed on the rocks and soaked up the views. How unusual, how unlike anything I’ve really seen in Aotearoa New Zealand so far.

I really loved this spot at Little Kaiteriteri. “This is all granite,” Daniel explained. Which made sense, given that we were in Golden Bay – a popular spot for mining gold in the 1800s.

I walked along the beach, in awe of the scenery. Before leaving, we spotted dolphins near the shallow end of the bay.

Afterwards, we stopped to get kebabs. Daniel treated me which was really nice – he offered the best hospitality. A place to do my laundry, a warm shower, a comfortable bed, delicious dinners. I was able to get a tour from a proper local, etc. Thank you, Daniel!

In the evening, we relaxed around the house. We watched some walkthroughs of Italian homes in the evening (where Daniel wants to live one day) and had homemade pizza. The pizza was amazing. It was so good that Daniel made a second “for leftovers,” but we both ended up finishing the second one, too haha. It made me miss my mom’s pizzas – but I’ll be having one of those in about two months!

Once again, I was exhausted come nighttime. I ended up crashing early.

The next morning, I packed up my things and Daniel and I parted ways. It was kind of strange to be saying goodbye. We had hung out a number of times when I was living in Queenstown. Even after he moved away, he came to Queenstown for work once or twice, so we caught up then, too. To say farewell this time was much more final. However, meeting up in Nelson was something we’d talked about for months. It was cool we were able to see it to fruition.

Thanks for the amazing hospitality, Daniel!

Cape Farewell

From Daniel’s house, I drove up to Cape Farewell to explore the northernmost point of the South Island. I had grand ambitions to walk along the Farewell Spit, which is this narrow strip of land that hooks out from the top part of the South Island.

Along the way, I stopped at Te Waikoropupū Springs (aka Pupu Springs), which is actually the clearest spring water in the world. Funnily enough, my friend Rob had sent me a picture of it when I’d first arrived in New Zealand.

The water truly was SO clear. The only unfortunate bit is that the sun was glaring down on the middle part of the springs, putting a big glare on the deepest part of the water, which you would have been able to see to the bottom of otherwise. I returned another day too to try to get a better picture, but no such luck. Still, I got images of the edges of the springs, which clearly show just how clear the water is. It was amazing! It is also a place of spiritual significance for Māori.

From Pupu Springs, I drove on to Farewell Spit. The walk along the beach wasn’t quite as easy as I’d envisioned. It was high tide and I was often balancing along bunches of driftwood that had been pushed up to the edge of the sand. I scraped my legs a few times.

I walked as far as I could walk, which actually wasn’t the easiest feat during high tide haha. Zigging and zagging away from the water was a constant. But… there were black swans. So it was worth it.

I came to a sign that said I’d reached the end of public beach access. Alternatively, I was able to cross into the middle part of the spit. I had to trek up some sand dunes, which I was hesitant about at first but ultimately, I’m super glad I did. The area I found before me looked almost alien.

I was surprised the spit was as wide as it was. Seeing it on a map, you’d think it was maybe twenty feet of sand. But no, you can actually walk along the width of it for about fifteen minutes before reaching the other side.

The other side of the spit seemed much more vicious. Wind was blowing furiously, the waves were angry. It was a struggle to avoid getting sand in the eyes haha and so I returned to the safety of the inner beach.

At that point, the tide had started flowing out to sea. It made it much, MUCH easier to walk along the beach instead of playing hop scotch on driftwood.

From Farewell Spit, I drove to my campsite for the evening, a holiday park near Wharariki Beach. I checked in (this was a paid holiday park and not a DoC campsite like I’ve usually been using) and walked around the area. After getting situated, I ventured thirty minutes to the beach. My feet were KILLING me even though I hadn’t really walked that long… but I trudged on.

The walk to the beach wasn’t overly strenuous and it had the added perk of passing through farmland. Sheep! So many sheep!

Some of them were right on the trail so finally I was able to get a good picture of sheep, something I see everywhere in New Zealand. And baby sheep at that. So cute!

After farmland, there was a bit of trail that went through forest and then an area that transitioned from forest to coast.

And then, the beach. Oh, my. I was really blown away by this coastal area.

And so cool to see the massive Archway Islands.

I also saw a baby fur seal at the edge of the water. Cutie.

I returned to the hostel to read a little bit and have dinner. On the way, I was very shocked to see… PEACOCKS!

Later, I returned to the beach for sunset. I was hoping for a grand sunset over the water but due to a wall of clouds above the horizon, it was a very muted sunset. Once the sun reached below the clouds, I went back.

I woke up in the morning to a thunderstorm. Eek! I’d spent nearly eleven months in New Zealand and it wasn’t until this final month that I’ve been experiencing thunderstorms haha. Hey, I’ll take it.

From my campsite, I drove four minutes to get to Cape Farewell proper – the edge of a cliff with a signpost claiming it is the northernmost point on the South Island. The area looked menacing with thunderstorms in the distance and cruel waves slamming against the cliff faces.

I mused about how it had been just about a month since I was at the southernmost point of the South Island and now here I was at the northernmost point. I do love this island so much. It will be sad to leave it behind in about a week.

Abel Tasman National Park

I was eager to leave the Cape Farewell area. I had to drive through gravel roads for about ten minutes to get to/leave my campsite. If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that I hate, Hate, HATE gravel roads. And yet, I had another massive gravel road to drive through in the same day.

I had wanted to stay at Abel Tasman National Park, but I wasn’t finding any DoC campsites that were accessible by van. Luckily, Daniel had helped me out with that and recommended one for me. Ah, YES! It WAS accessible by van. Although, it involves driving down a winding road for about 45min. Ah, NO! Haha.

Briefly, I stopped at Pupu Springs to see if the middle of the spring was more visible. Alas, still glared out by the sun. Damn! So I drove to Abel Tasman National Park.

Along the way, I stopped to do the Wainui Falls track. It was about twenty minutes one way. I weaved around a gorge and found my way to a waterfall with a little rainbow reflecting in it. A good omen!

Afterwards, I hustled back to my van. To be honest, I just wanted to get the whole Gravel Road part of things done and dusted. It wasn’t long after leaving Wainui Falls that the gravel road began. It wasn’t that bad, honestly. I took my time and while the roads were winding, they weren’t all too terrible. They were a little terrible, though. Luckily, there was no traffic so I was able to take all the time I needed.

And then I arrived, at the Tōtaranui campsite – my home for the next two nights. (P.S. Fun fact – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited Tōtaranui once!)

I was surprised to find that the campsite actually had a proper… DoC building. Most of the campsites I’ve been staying at have a self-registration section and there aren’t actually any rangers around. Even here, it was self registration, but they did have rangers mowing the lawns, doing various projects around the area, etc. One really nice thing about staying at the campsites is that I bought a Campsite Pass several months back for maybe NZD$195. It gives me unlimited access to DoC campsites. So I’ve already made that money back and have saved so much – as opposed to staying at hostels every night, etc. Once a week is fine, it’s important to splurge every now and then. But every bit counts because what I save now will give me some extra money for Asia!

After finding a spot to park Goldie, I went for a walk along the Abel Tasman Great Walk, to the south. I only walked for about an hour or so but I can safely say – kudos to those that have ambitions to do the entirety of any of the Great Walks. From what I’ve seen – Abel, Rakiura, even Routeburn to some extent… they are no walk in the park and tend to be very muddy, with lots of up/down/up/down bits.

The walk had an amazing view of the Tōtaranui beach. I continued along to yet another beach before heading back. I was walking in my Birkenstocks and almost slipped a few times lol. Crazy.

I ended up finishing my book and luckily the DoC building had a book swap. Yahoo! I now have a Virginia Andrews book which I’ve started reading and I’m enjoying it so far. Virginia Andrews is the chick who wrote Flowers in the Attic, which I read many, many years ago. Not three pages in, there’s already talk of the main character being interested in her half-brother LOL. I wonder if incest is a recurring theme in all her books?

As it got later in the day, I cooked up some dinner (spaghetti & meatballs from a can, with bread haha) and then walked along the beach in search of penguins. No such luck.

In the morning, I walked along the Abel Tasman track to the north. This led me to Anapai Bay, where I met a tramper doing the entire walk. We talked for maybe five minutes and then he continued on with his walk. I stayed behind and soaked in the views. Unfortunately, the sandflies make it hellish to sit anywhere for too long. My ankles are completely chewed up from my sandfly encounters the last two weeks. Bastards.

I walked from Anapai Bay back to Tōtaranui, but did a detour along the Headlands track. It provided a lovely view of Tōtaranui and some subsequent beaches. Finally, I made it back to my campsite. I had some food and then worked on a drawing for a couple of hours. I’ll share that further below.

Aside from the hiking, I spent the rest of the day chilling out. I walked along the beach at sunset and found some boulders to sit on.

I watched the waves crash onto the beach. I observed the sky as it changed color. A weka came and visited me at one point. A weka visited me while I was having lunch, too. Oh, and I snapped a picture of a kereru – my guardian angel bird (below, middle).

When it was dark, the stars were incredible. The Milky Way was clearly visible in a way I maybe have never seen before. Just lovely.

The next morning, it was time to leave already. I was feeling restless and wanted to get out of the gravel roads as soon as possible, so I set an alarm and woke up earlier than usual to get a head start on my day. I’m glad I did. While the gravel roads seemed endless, eventually I had made my way to sealed pavement once again. PRAISE THE LORDS! (Also, I know it is a little melodramatic but because of popping a tire on gravel roads in the past, I’m always extremely wary of driving on gravel roads now. I am just praying Goldie will get me safely to Auckland with no issues!)

I was rewarded with a rainbow, fully arching across the sky. It was so vibrant, I had to find a spot to pull over and get a picture.

I was really glad to make it on to sealed roads lol. I really, really hate gravel. But Goldie made it through. Bless her. I’m hoping that’s it for gravel roads now, but something tells me there will be a few more before my time in Aotearoa is up.

I had one more detour before going to Nelson – Split Apple Rock. A ten minute walk, and then a really interesting rock formation out in the water. It was bigger than I’d imagined. Apparently, it’s a super popular attraction for those visiting the region.

I’ve since arrived in Nelson. I checked in to my hostel early, took a WARM shower (which was needed because I stank), and have been typing up this blog. Once done, I’m going to relax and then grab some dinner later. Yahoo!

Instagram Bullshit

One thing I have to mention that has been eating away at me all week… is that my damn Instagram has been suspended. Last week, after typing up my blog post, I was posting a Story with a link to the post. I also posted a few images from the week. After that, I posted a few images from my last days in Queenstown. I think because I posted so much in a short amount of time, it got flagged as spam. Instagram has AI bots basically auto suspending people. I was given the option to “appeal” the decision. It said that normally people get a response in just over one day. Until a decision has been made, my account is hidden to others and I can’t really use the app or see anything.

As of today, it has been a week. It is looking pretty grim. I’ve read online and so many people have had this same issue. A lot have said that if you don’t hear back in 48hr, your account is likely going to be permanently disabled. The thing that is the most frustrating is that it is very difficult to get in touch with a human. AI has taken over Meta. Both Facebook and Instagram have really shit customer service, so there’s no email, no phone number, basically no way to try to talk to someone about the issue. HOWEVER, two nights ago, I found a Reddit post where someone figured out a way to submit a form that would potentially get an answer from humans. I’ve since done that, but I got an automated response saying that based on the information I provided, they can’t help me and the case is closed so no one will respond to the email lol.

I have decided I’m going to keep sending these forms explaining my problem until someone finally helps me. It just is really ridiculous. I have so much art on Instagram, so many videos, memories, etc. But the thing that is maybe most painful is that all of the people I’ve met in Australia and New Zealand were connected with me pretty much solely through Instagram… so a lot of those relationships are just going to be lost if I can’t get this decision reversed.

We’ll see. I am trying to be hopeful but considering it’s been a week and some people have been suspended for weeks, months, sometimes years… I just don’t know. I know it seems like a silly thing, because it’s just a social media app after all, but it has really put a damper on my week. I’m just kicking myself wishing I hadn’t posted so much all at once. Alas. Maybe by next week’s post, my account will be back up. SEND PRAYERS lol.

Miscellaneous

Not much to mention here. The only thing I wrote to mention in this section was that there were windchimes at the holiday park I stayed at near Cape Farewell. Of course, my last name is Wind, and we always had windchimes at our house growing up, so it reminds me of family. There are also windchimes at the hostel I’m at today.

Art of the Week

I’ve made two drawings of essentially the same thing. I wanted to do a self-portrait of sorts that kind of reflected both me in Australia and me in Aotearoa New Zealand. But… I thought the first one got a little lost in all the grid blocking, so I tried again while in Abel Tasman. I like the Abel version a lot better! Which do you prefer?

Reflections

Oh, geez, what to reflect on? Hasn’t there been enough to read already? Haha.

I would say I’m feeling pretty in the groove of things now. I am liking the way I’m traveling. Staying in my van (albeit uncomfortable at times), cooking food, finding safe water to drink, sightseeing, driving and listening to music, etc. It feels like… freedom. This is freedom, I suppose. Freedom from work, freedom to do as I like each day.

It is funny to switch from the van living to staying in a hostel or even the couple nights I stayed with my friend Daniel. Living in a van is so SPECIFIC. And then suddenly I’m like in civilization again, having warm showers, all the conveniences of life around. It is kind of jarring to go from using my headtorch to find the toilets to… I don’t know, walking outside and going to a restaurant. Haha. It’s like a complete 180.

Now that I’ve spent some time by the ocean again, I am realizing it is much needed for me at this point. I love the mountains, but I had thought to myself, “I need less mountains, more ocean now.” I just need to be near the ocean. I love it! Luckily, I’ll be near it for the next week or so.

So, what’s next?

I haven’t fully decided what the next two days look like but essentially, I will be moving east. On the 28th, 29th, and 30th, I have tours lined up in Kaikōura. One is a dolphin swim tour, one is a sperm whale watching tour, and one is a 40min FLIGHT to try and observe sperm whales. Weather can be fickle this time of year, so I’m hoping it all works out.

Oh, I also will be stopping in Blenheim to get some more of the unreal chocolate bars Renee had gifted me haha.

This time next week, I’ll be making my way to the North Island. It is odd to know I will be leaving the South Island soon. It has been my home for the past 10+ months at this point. I know the North Island will have lots to offer, too, but the two islands are so different they’re often said they’re like different countries completely. It will be sad to say goodbye. Love you, South Island.

Until next time, I’m sending you all my love. xx