Yesterday we purchased a fly fishing rod, reel, line, and flies, as well as the required licenses. It was a bit expensive (~$400 NZD, $140 of that the license), but the rod can come home with us, and considering many of the camping sites we are planning on staying at are located next to prime fly fishing spots, it should pay for itself rather quickly, both in terms of food costs and entertainment. Neither of us know how to fly fish, but we have a pretty good idea. :P
So, the rough itinerary is thus:
- Tonight we drive ~3 hours to a campsite on the west coast where we can pan for gold and fish.
- Tomorrow we stay in Nelson, where I began my travels, and I will get to show Kristin all the cool things there are to see.
- The Abel Tasman track is next, with beautiful beaches and semi-tropical forests surrounding it. Possibly will do part of the track via sea kayak.
- Up to the north tip of the south island for the scenery.
- Queen Charlotte Track, and green lipped mussels at Havelock (just for Linda).
- South to Milford Sound.
- South more to Steward Island, the best place to see wild kiwi!
- Up to Dunedin, home of Cadbury Chocolate NZ, beautiful harbors, and nice buildings.
- Back to Cromwell to show Kristin where I have been living and working, including wine tastings and possibly even making the Friday after-work pub meeting to say hi to the people I have been working with.
- Drive through Central Otago, home of NZ merino wool and beautiful alpine lakes. We have an appointment for Kristin to tour a salmon farm at some point.
- If we find a way to work it out, we will be selling my car in Christchurch, "relocating" a rental car from Christchurch to Auckland for free, and spending our remaining time on the North Island before flying back to the States on Dec. 11th.
This should be a great trip.
I am not sure where and when I will have internet along the trip, but I will actually be taking lots of pictures and will update this blog to share our adventures as best I can!
~ matt
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