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Days 7 to 16 of Christmas/Anniversary/Birthday/New Years holiday 2012/2013

The kayaking on days 1 through 7 of this trip is well documented in previous posts. I had a few notes in draft for the remainder of the trip that I am pulling together now for memories sake.

Days 7 to 10: 

  • Fat Tui burgers - Best. Burger. Ever. Not sure if it was indeed that good or it was that good after 7 days of backpacking food. Mind you, we ate like kings for a backpacking trip. But, this burger still has iconic status in my memory. The question now is can I ever go back, or would that ruin the original experience?
  • Tinline Bay - B and I did some more kayaking in the park after the kayaking trip. This consisted mostly of lounging on the beach in the hammock. 
  • boat vs. bus - We had booked a boat from the park to Nelson. It was swapped with a bus due to weather. Functional, but not as pretty. 
  • NYE - We saw the singular firework in Nelson. It was pretty. 

Days 11 to 14:

  • Solo drive - I was solo from this point in the trip due to circumstances. I continued on our trip as planned, but definitely missed my travel buddy. 
  • Farewell Spit - I took a tour out on the spit. It was beautiful. I remember trying to capture some of the patterns in the sand dunes, but there being a little shit on our tour that kept jumping in them before I could. I also remember our tour bus getting stuck a few times, and me being the only one to book the premium tour, so the driver and I hung out all day!
  • Wharariki beach - I stayed in a holiday park at this beach for a few nights. The park was fine. The weather was terrible including a storm so bad, I abandoned my tent to sleep in the backseat of my hire car. In my mind, a massive branch blew down in the night nearly crushing me in my tent. In the morning, said branch was much smaller than imagined. :) 
  • archways and lakes - several day trips to see these
Days 15 and 16:

  • Nelson Lakes - I stayed in campground here for a few days. Always beautiful. I remember it being extremely hot though and very much sandfly infested. 
  • Hike up ridge - one of the hikes in the park made for a great night's sleep. 
  • Sand flies - are bastards. 
  • Final swim - in Cable Bay. 

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