Kia Ora: Post 4

On the ferry from Wellington to Picton, with the South Island in the background.
Shoreline in Nelson, looking west towards the Abel Tasman National Park.
"Old Man Dread" formation at the climbing crag in Paynes Ford, Takaka.
A startled owl at the Paynes Ford climbing area. That little guy scared the crap out of me.
The Takaka River at Paynes Ford.

We arrived in the country's capital of Wellington on Friday morning and rode the ferry, car and all, over to the South Island and landed in Picton. That was the first time I'd ever been on a ferry ride before. It's pretty cool being out on the water. The weather was pretty brisk so staying out on deck was limited to how much you cold tolerate the wind and cold. No worries, as they say here, just hop on in the cabin area and grab yourself a hot, long dark one, coffee that is. When we arrived in the bay near Picton, a few dolphins greeted us as the ship made its way to port. Pretty cool, eh?

Land ho!, South Island of New Zealand.

We made our way over to the town of Nelson. From there we decided to chill out and spend our 4 days based out of there. We were a bit tired of driving and all agreed that there was much to do in the Nelson area so it became our base camp. We had loosely planned on driving down to Christchurch but scrapped that idea after spending a week driving, visiting relatives, driving more, visiting more relatives, etc.

I headed over to the town of Takaka solo. We all needed a break from each other so I spent Saturday driving up and over the windy pass of Takaka Hill in search of climbing folk with whom I could hopefully climb with. I struck gold at the Hangdog Camp in Paynes Ford and ended up climbing with a lad named James from the U.K. Cool kid. The climbing at the Ford reminds me of a combination of RPM Wall in Wolverine Canyon, (back in Idaho Falls),  and Red Rocks, Nevada near Las Vegas. 

At one point in the afternoon as I walked past an overhanging section of rock, something burst out of a hole in the cliff and scared the crap out of me. It was a smallish owl. Owls of all sizes have claws…and sharp beaks. It was more scared of me than I of it but man, why do they have to go straight for your head like that? Good times in New Zealand.