The Real Jess

That's me. I go to school. I play rugby. I like stuff.

jwilton at uvic dot ca

Jan 25

The Geographical Center of New Zealand

Mark, Nic, Phil and I went on a little hike up to the geographical center of New Zealand, located just behind where they live in Nelson. We took ‘the long way’ which was about 45 minutes walk. (It was maybe 15 minutes back to their house on the way home.) There is a beautiful 360 degree view from the top. 

(rumour has it that the actual center is in the middle of the tasman bay?)

Note to self: don’t forget to drink water before going on hikes… exercising while dehydrated is bad news bears. 
Posted at 6:44pm

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Jan 24

September 23 2011

We woke up that morning, and took off before making breakfast. We stopped somewhere with a picnic table just a few minutes from where we had camp to make breakfast. It was one of our favorite camping foods, grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Also, we met a friend. This little guy is a weka, a native NZ bird. Mark was instantly his friend and (tsk tsk) even fed him some bread. We were in a pretty good mood as we were headed back to Nelson that day and were going to be reunited with Michelle! 
Posted at 7:28pm

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September 22 2011 After leaving the pancake rocks, we headed down the road to the Punakaiki Tavern, recommended to us by our friend Michelle. It turns out that her family friends, Joque and Lorraine own and run this place. When we turned up at about 3pm, it was another friend of Michelle’s, Graham that was behind the bar. It was cool to meet a friend of a friend in such a (to me) random location. We had some snacks at the bar, and Graham pointed us to a place where we could camp for free, just a couple hundred meters away at the mouth of the Porarari in Paparoa National Park. When we arrived to set up camp there were several white baiters in the river, as appears to be the case in most rivers in New Zealand.  A little while later, we walked back to the pub to watch some rugby and have some beers. We briefly met Joque and Lorraine, though they were rather busy as I think they might be just about the only place in town which had SKY. We had a good time there, and then strolled back to our little camp site in the dark. 

September 22 2011

After leaving the pancake rocks, we headed down the road to the Punakaiki Tavern, recommended to us by our friend Michelle. It turns out that her family friends, Joque and Lorraine own and run this place. When we turned up at about 3pm, it was another friend of Michelle’s, Graham that was behind the bar. It was cool to meet a friend of a friend in such a (to me) random location. We had some snacks at the bar, and Graham pointed us to a place where we could camp for free, just a couple hundred meters away at the mouth of the Porarari in Paparoa National Park. When we arrived to set up camp there were several white baiters in the river, as appears to be the case in most rivers in New Zealand. 

A little while later, we walked back to the pub to watch some rugby and have some beers. We briefly met Joque and Lorraine, though they were rather busy as I think they might be just about the only place in town which had SKY. We had a good time there, and then strolled back to our little camp site in the dark. 
Posted at 6:56pm

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September 22 2011 - Punakaiki New Zealand

We finally made it to Punakaiki in the early afternoon on the 22nd. We stopped at a gift/coffee shop adjacent to the info center in town, where I got a really tasty chai latte, and Mark got a coffee. From there, we took the stroll through the pancake rocks. The rocks were formed millions of years ago from alternating layers of soft and hard limestone. The soft limestone is gradually washed away creating this pancake effect. In some places, whole chunks of it have fallen away into the sea. At high tide, the water makes a thunderous noise when it pounds in through the holes. Furthermore, when it hits the right spot, water shoots meters into the air, creating a blow hole effect. Unfortunately, though being there at high tide, it was a neap tide, so we didn’t see much of a spray. 
Posted at 6:43pm

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