Merry Christmas everyone, all over the world! We're staying with a great family for Christmas in Nelson after the longest, most scenic and best prepared track in NZL so far.
We are so thankful that we were able to walk this track without any further knee issues.
Not even Lina who carried the much heavier backpack to relieve Thomas' knee.
A map of our travels
A great story of God's care for us: One day Lina's flipflops ripped and she had to walk home barefoot. The very next day a Lady gave us a ride along a street, where they had this table with free shoes (we've never seen anything like that before!) One of the two jandal pairs fit perfectly.
The night before we went to Picton, we stayed with a German family, whose garden was not only different to others', but also very artistic (the garage with LotR at the bottom!)
Lina even had herself a tshirt painted by Gisela =)
A great NZL tradition: The whole town gathers in the park with picnics and sings Christmas carols. (Cameron, Patricia's grandson, on the right).
Beautiful sunset that night!
The next morning on the watertaxi to Ship Cove, the start of the Queen Charlotte track (71 km, 5 days).
Best thing to start a track with: Have a stoneskipping break or eating the very longest praline in the world (it's actually an ancient supple jack -> eine Liane!)
Our faithful companion in every food break, the Weka (we called them the "Gerhards"). They are natives and one is not allowed to eat them for dinner, unfortunately.
Our first lookout picture taken by a professional photographer, adding his personal note to the picture ;)
We spent the night at Patricia's camp ground, where we WWOOFed and got to try out kayaking, yay!
Day 2: humid, rainy, hot and rainy.
During this lunch break we found out that our bread was moldy. But we got a home baked one from a nice owner of one lodge along the track =)
This is not Thomas' knee, which didn't hurt on the track thanks to God, but Lina's.
The sandflies and mosquitos love her!!!
Here you can see our new rainprotections for the backpacks, which were only half price =)
Day 3: First time making french toasts on a track (we bought 2 eggs ON the track).
Look at that! Awesome! The weather was also totally different.
After an exhausting hike, we spent the night on a campsite by ourselves. It had a beautiful view into Picton harbor! AND the first time we camped only with the inner tent (mosquito net) and could gaze at the stars while falling asleep.
Day 4: Woken up by a Comic sound making bird at 5:15 am we decided to get up and have morning coffee while the sun rose. So good to start walking early when its still cool.
We also met another German Christian couple and walked with them most of the day, they even knew Juergen Fischer, our homechurch's preacher =) how small the world is.
That night we stayed at a more expensive private campground. But since we weeded for them (left) we got to enjoy a swim, beautiful facilities and the night for free.
Day 5: The view from our morning card playing break,
ferries passing by every 10 minutes.
Some people's comment: You came all the way up here,
just to play cards? OH YES, we did =D
Thomas looking for crabs in the river
Just before the end of the track
Back in "civilization" - next super market in 18 km
We are so grateful to be able to stay with the Gardiners in Nelson
(Caroline, Sophie, Duncan and Jill at the neighbor's house for a little Christmas party)
Thomas enjoying the cigar and his juice =)
Lina the red-nosed reindeer
Pretty cool! The Gardiners have a magnetic field elevator which makes you float in the air for 5 - 20 minutes depending how high your iron level is.
Left: Singing christmas carols again, this time in front of the Nelson cathedral. Right: Jill and Dunc figuring out a riddle that was inside a Christmas cracker. (Bonbon, den man an zwei Enden mit lautem Knall auseinanderzieht und unter anderem die herrlichen Kronen darin findet).
Traditional Christmas lunch with a delicious turkey after a very happy time unwrapping presents.
