Quick synopsis of what’s happened in the last few days, since I’ve been a little lazy w/ the blog:
Wednesday was another lazy day. It was the 3rd day of bad weather, so I went around Nelson and did some shopping, read my book, and planned the next segment. Frank, Tim, and I met Jon, a Brit from near London, and figured out that we could rent a car to get up to Abel Tasman for $35 total, rather than paying $45 each for a roundtrip bus ticket. Also, Doug– a Kiwi from Christchurch who I had seen at dinner three straight nights– offered to drive me to Christchurch on Friday. So I avoided a $52 bus ticket and extended my stay in Nelson by another day. 
Thursday was one of the best days of the trip so far. The four of us got up really early (like 7) and were picked up by the rental car company. We drove the car out to Abel Tasman park (about 60km away) and found a Water Taxi company to take us to Bark Bay… the idea is you park at the trail head, take a water taxi (powerboat) about 20km up the coast, and walk back. Some people choose to do a shorter (10-15km) hike (or “tramp” as they call it here) from Torrent Bay. The day started off drizzly and cool, but by 11 or 12 the clouds burned off and it was a bright blue sky for the first time in days. My convertible pants came in extremely useful– Frank and Tim had jeans and started feeling a bit uncomfortable after a while.
Unfortunately I left my camera at the hostel, but I don’t know that it would have done justice to the views and the incredible diversity of the terrain. Just literally 30 seconds apart on the trail was dry vegetation like what you’d find in California, alternating with rainforest-like ferns and cool, moist air. Very strange. Because it is winter here (although it was a very comfortable 20 degrees C), the trail was nearly empty, and the smooth white beaches were totally wild and absent of the hordes of trampers that supposedly descend in summer. In the afternoon, I felt a wistful memory of the beach at Tropea in March (in very similar weather), and went for a winter swim in Nelson Bay (or whatever the water is called at Abel Tasman). It was really cold but lots of fun. Jon went in too, but the German guys stayed out. Their loss.
We finished the trek at sunset amid spectacular natural beauty. It was hard to decide where to look: the silhouettes of mountains behind us, mist clinging to the ridges, or the violet and pink hues of distant mountains across the bay. It was sublime.
Yesterday Doug brought me to Christchurch. The drive underscored the natural beauty and diversity of this country. Crystal-clear rivers, graceful pasture, and majestic mountain passes– just amazing. There is no end to it. Last night I went to the Crusaders-Hurricanes rugby game (Super 12 semifinal). It was an outright drubbing– the hometown Crusaders destroyed the Hurricanes, 47-7. It was a really cool experience. They played the same music at the beginning of the game that they play at Pirates games, but they had these huge fire things that flames up when they annouced the team, and a bunch of men on horses cantering around the field and getting the fans all jazzed up. Not quite the Pierogie races, but not bad.
Everyone was going out and celebrating, so a british girl from my room (Shilly) and I went to an Irish pub and ran into some All Blacks player (NZ national rugby team)… he was *wasted*. But pretty cool– people don’t really bother the famous players when they go out. Some of the Hurricanes were out on the town, too.
Now I’m running a bit behind for the airport, so it’s off to Melbourne and St. Kilda. Tuesday I’m moving on to Cairns. Hope everyone is doing great.