On the South Island

Since I don't have to start work until Wed afternoon, I figured I'd get of town for the weekend. I tried thinking of what I wanted to do and where to go. I thought, "let's go hiking in Abel Tasman Nat'l Park!" And then I looked on the map, realized that the road passed through Nelson. I know Swedish girls in Nelson.

I am going to their house party at 7 tonight.
I'm a lucky bastard I know. But somebody has to do the dirty work, as they say....

I took the ferry over the Cook Straight, expecting the worst, but it was only bad for a a bit, as I got a good 1 hour nap in. When you go into Charlotte Sound, the channel is pretty narrow, and you're in a massive ferry as wide as a 10 lane road I figured out! The hills surround the channel, and it was very cool indeed, and even better, the water was glass. The wind was strong, but it came from the south, so it was rather warm.
I had slight problems getting a rental car, and spent the night in Picton, where the ferry landed. It was pretty dead on a Friday night. I drank a bottle of Sauv Blanc (the top varietal in this region by far) and struck up some good conversation in the hostel. As usual, the Canucks had the best stories...
Woke up, and drove over here to Nelson, where it's nice. I hope to do the park tomorrow, and do wine tasting on Mon. Back on Tuesday.
Later.