The North of the South - Van life New Zealand
ADVENTURE
Ah, the North of the South Island! A favourite destination for many tourists, but also for New Zealanders on holiday!
In short, it's (FINALLY!) warm (without exaggerating, of course, we're still in New Zealand, always advisable to have a light jacket just in case), there are few free places to spend the night in a van, and lots of people.
We started with the Abel Tasman, one of the country's most famous Great Walks. Well, in our own way, of course. Normally, people who say they've "done" the Abel Tasman have walked for at least three days and slept in huts alongside other motivated hikers.
Personally, adventurous as I may be, I prefer to sleep in my van for free (or pay $15 for a campsite with a kitchen and showers) than in an overpriced dormitory alongside people who smell bad because they've been carrying their sleeping bags around all day. I understand that some people enjoy that rough exploration side, really. But for me, if I can sleep comfortably and be clean, I prefer it. I've already had my share of exhilarating, rough adventures; now, if I can prioritise my well-being, I won't hesitate.
But we still wanted to see what justified all the excitement. So, we went to the two possible starting points of the hike and walked for a few hours, before turning back.
Pleasant walks in the forest, between the turquoise sea and mountains. Very nice. But, as it's one of the country's main attractions, you spend more time greeting people than listening to the birdsong. I imagine that the more remote parts of the hike, only accessible after several days of walking, show a bit less human presence.
For me, these are landscapes that I've already seen on my previous trips, so I have no regrets about not completing the full route. Although, as Dani says, it's not the same fauna and flora, of course. But I prefer to take a little walk in an unknown area with perhaps less impressive views but be really immersed in wild nature, than famous panoramas where we bipeds are omnipresent.
The great surprise, however, was this Kea crossing the road as we headed to the north entrance of the hike! An unexpected and hoped-for encounter that filled us with joy and was the highlight of the day.
We spent the night in Takaka, the quintessential hippie town. Then, we headed to Farewell Split, the northernmost point of the country.
There, we were planning on doing a short two-hour loop on this deserted peninsula, but ended up spending over four hours walking in the sand and collecting spiral shells, alone in the world. Crossing the dunes to go from one side to the other of this large strip of sand surrounded by the sea was somewhat challenging, but the extraordinary landscape was worth it. We felt like we were in the desert, with sand as far as the eye could see and seagulls as our only companions.
On the other side, black swans greeted us as we saw no end to this "little walk". Our thighs were sore, but for once, this hike was really worth it, in my opinion. Endless nature, hours to walk mindfully and meditate in contact with the elements. In these conditions, yes, I am happy to hike for hours.
After that, we headed to Wharariki Beach, to make sure we'd go to bed completely exhausted. This beach is famous for being photographed and used as a Windows desktop background. The thing is, to avoid spoiling what I'm about to discover, I make sure not to see any photos before going to a new place. So, I hadn't done any prior research to see what background it was, I just thought I'd remember it when I saw it. Well, I didn't.
The walk was pleasant, and the beach with its huge rocks was very beautiful, but nothing triggered my memory. It wasn't until later that evening, once we were back at the campsite, that we learned that to replicate the picture, you had to go all the way to the left of the beach. We went to the right. Oops.
No regrets, the view was still splendid.
On the following day, it was time to head to Nelson, not without making some stops in charming little towns, and on Rabbit Island, with its large beaches protected from any urbanisation.
We then met Laila, the only dog who managed to conquer Dani's heart (probably because she behaves more like a cat, hiding everywhere), with whom we spent two weeks looking at the mountains. Then, as Dani had found a job, we found another house-sitting gig and started looking after Poppy—a very sweet cat—just a few kilometres away. This was an opportunity for me to indulge in yoga (I learned to do a headstand in less than a week!) and to illustrate the cover of the book on the seven chakras, which I plan to self-publish, as well as to initiate myself into distance Reiki for dogs (an intense experience, worth exploring).
And so concludes our adventure in the South Island! We are now back on the North Island, in New Plymouth, to be precise.
But I'll tell you more about that in another post.
❂ Thank you, once again, for accompanying me on this journey ❂
