Spring break II: Nelson and Marlborough Sounds

From Abel Tasman we jammed our smelly selves back into the car and drove east to Nelson, one of the bigger towns on the south island (but still only 40,000 people). We checked out the town, went to the information center to try to figure out what to do with the extra days we gained by finishing our hike early, got some celebratory Burger King (and pizza, and chocolate, and beer) and went to find our first real official free campground. It was great, it had a toilet and everything and was in this pretty park! I don’t really understand how free camping is allowed or how campgrounds can be free but it was certainly nice to only pay for camping while we were in the national park. We camped next to a field full of cows, which was entertaining, especially when Zak discovered firsthand that the fence was electric.

Sunrise at camp

The next day, which was day 6 without a shower, I quickly used a $2 public shower while the others got more Burger King (I know, I obviously made the right choice there). Really, once you’re that dirty it stops mattering so I might as well have not showered the whole time because we all just got used to being a little nasty and it was kind of fun. We also did a little walk up into the hills above Nelson to go to the “center of New Zealand”, which is apparently not actually the geographic center of NZ, but it had good views of the city and surrounding ocean and mountains anyway. Then we headed onto the windiest roads ever out to the Marlborough Sounds!

This turned out to be the worst campsite of the whole trip. We had to walk ten minutes from the car to the actual campsite, which was a pain since by now our stuff was all spread out into multiple backpacks and grocery bags. The sandflies were pretty bad and there wasn’t much to do except wander out along the Queen Charlotte Track that went through the area. There were also a creepy number of the aforementioned Kevin birds, making us a little wary. The wariness worsened when we were playing cards by headlamp light when all of a sudden a screech/hiss came out of the woods. It turned out to be a possum but this was enough to have all of us straining to hear animals creeping around for the rest of the night. Then the wind seriously picked up, such that we had to move our card game inside the tent. It only got stronger as the night went on and I don’t think any of us got any sleep because the wind was so loud and strong our tents were whipping around, sometimes almost collapsing on us or at least pressing into our faces.

In the morning we were eager to leave camp and get to the hike that had brought us out into this pretty area – Mt. Stokes! It is the highest point in Marlborough Sounds at 1200m/4000ft, making for a good day hike with some seriously good views. The climb was very steep and not particularly enjoyable but the views from the top were awesome! We could see all around the sound and even up to the north island. This first mountain made me, along with everyone else, very eager to find some more that were doable to summit with our skill and fitness level.

The hike was rather steep

Me at the summit

Awesome views! The north island is the land in the back left corner in the distance.

After the hike we all decided we’d rather escape the campsite from hell and be on our way than kill time randomly wandering around the next day, so we headed on south!