The Wandering Enginerds

After nine (9) hours of travel split between ferry and car we reached our campsite in New Plymouth on the West side of the North Island. Jenna headed out to tour the town and eventually catch up with an old friend from a Vancouver soccer team they played for who now lives in New Plymouth. I took the much-advertised Coastal Walkway from the campsite into town finding a pizza joint called “Hell.” Now, I’ve made it a goal of mine to try pizza from as many countries as I can because, well… 1) pizza is awesome; 2) it seems that every country offers it; and 3) there are so many varieties to try as every place likes to put their unique mark on it. Before writing this section I had gone the entirety of New Zealand without finding a decent pizza joint to try out – that’s nearly four (4) weeks of misery with canned soup, PB and Nutella sammies, dry camping food, and the occasional chicken or pasta. Thankfully “Hell” came through with the 2nd-best pizza I’ve had on the trip so far! It was a mix ...

Let me start by saying that the South Island is absolutely amazing, my ideal place.  So much adventure to be had! After a quick 3.5 hour ferry ride across the Cook Straight from Wellington on the North Island, we got to Picton on the South Island of New Zealand as the sun was setting.  The next day we headed toward Abel Tasman National Park on the Northeastern part of the island.  Along the way we stopped in Nelson to use the library's free wifi to figure out our plans and check out their beach.  Nelson is a big microbrewery spot but it was morning when we got there and we had a lot on the agenda that day so we didn't indulge.  Then we spent a couple hours in Kaiteriteri trail running and enjoying that beach.  On the way to our campsite for the night in Marahau we stopped at Split Apple Rock. Random viewpoint along the way to Nelson Split Apple Rock The next day from Marahau we took an hour boat taxi to Bark Bay where we began a 20km hike b...