Catching Up

Sorry that it's been so long since I've done a proper post. We've spent the last three nights in Wellington and today we head north.
Since my last post we have covered a lot of ground: the drive from Greymouth to Westport wasn't very scenic due to cloudy, rainy weather. We did get a beautiful day for the lovely drive from Westport to Moetuaka. Justin got to experience the amazing sandwiches at Toad Hall and we both sampled "real fruit ice cream" for the first time: two scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt with a few scoops of your choice of fruit (raspberry and strawberry for me, blackberry for Justin) then it all goes into this neat machine that mixes it all together. It was delicious and such a great concept that you may find Justin's Real Fruit Ice Cream Mobile Trailer in your driveway soon! Then it was up to Able Tasmen National Park. We rented a double sea kayak and caught a water taxi to the northern boundary of the park and then kayaked to Observation Beach where we pitched a tent and rang in the new year in style. There were two other families on the beach - no crowds or fanfare for us. Just brilliant stars and a dip in the ocean. It was great. The following night we spent in Nelson and Saturday morning we hit up the amazing local market. Everything from fruit to felt to massages to magnetic toys it was a little bit of a zoo but everything was locally and mostly handmade. We picked up some hand painted canvas bags, some roasted seeds, a big jar of local peanut butter, some black currant jam and a half kilo of the best freshly picked blueberries ever. Then we made the drive to French Pass which was a little disappointing because there was so much fog. But it was worth it because the town (if you can even call it that) is so out in the middle of nowhere that we really did feel half way around the world. We jumped off the pier and went for a very cold morning swim and then drove to Picton along the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive. After a night in Picton we caught the ferry to Wellington where we've been exploring the city on foot. We've walked between 5-8 hours for the past three days. Window shopping, checking out the great museums and parks, riding the cable car, we watched the movie The North Face (which is a great German film if you find it in your area) and sampling a few local restaurants and cafes (Flying Burrito Brothers was our favorite).
Pictures as promised:
Tranzscenic Train from Greymouth to Christchurch (over Arthur's Pass):

Monteith's Brewery Tour in Greymouth:
tasting the barley and hops-

inspecting the tanks:

sampling the goods:

Abel Tasmen launch:

Observation Beach New Year's Eve Camping Site:

New Year's Eve:

Up next: Tongariro Alpine Crossing
next blog post in about three days