An impression of Kaikoura to Tauranga

Tokomaru bay, a little paradise north of Gisborne

:( No!!!! I don't want to leave the south island...

The hostel in Tokomaru bay

The hostel cat :)

Sunrise Tokomaru bay

A run through Abel Tasman national park: beaches with snow covered mountains on the background

The inhabitants of the westcoast, north of Kaikoura

The most north-eastern point of New Zealand (called the East Cape)

Don't-let-it-rain ceremony in Kaikoura, after tearing two new gaps in my tent (total is five)

Me and the Takaka cows, enjoying staring at ech other

Wild horses on the way to the East Cape

Wanaka

Well... I have to say I feel a bit sad. After a few hours (and days) of procrastinating I left Wanaka last wednesday...  I lived in Wanaka for 6,5 months. I fell in love with the mountains, the lake and the scenery, and met some wonderful people who helped me to feel truely at home. I feel very grateful for the past six months and hope to be back.

I arrived in Wanaka with one backpack.. And left with one car, one bike, one guitar, two tents, two sleepingbags, two pillows, a hammer, and even a saucepan... Interesting ;) And off we went.. passed lake Pukaki, lake Tekapo, Fairlie.. places that me and Chris visited together at the beginning of the year.

And life goes on...

https://picasaweb.google.com/102991575880955556580/Wanaka?authkey=Gv1sRgCPzz87q5nceiDA#

The Big test: do my shoes give blisters, is my backpack too heavy..etc?

My gear is almost complete. I have new shoes, a tent and backpack, a compass, a gps, a spot locator beacon, first aid kit, walking poles, shorts, a hat..etc So this week I put it all in my backpack, and the backpack on the scales: 8 kg minus sleepingbag, clothes and food/water. Not too bad :) But I wondered: what if  I would be fed up with the weight of the bag within the first hour of hiking....!? In that case, I would be in big trouble.. :)

So the next sensible step seemed: put the pack on my back and walk the most challenging day walk I can find. I chose Roy's peak, 1578 m high and an 11 km return walk.

It was a pleasant day. Fortunately my shoes felt comfortable and the backpack felt like a ,not too heavy, extension of my body. The walk was awesome. At the top, the wind was quite strong and the clouds came in. There were big patches of snow. A great winter-tramping experience.

So no signs of discomfort (yet ;).  I quess I am ready to hit the trail :)