Ich spaziere und erkunde die Gegend.

Hello everyone,

I'll continue right away, who knows how the internet will be in the next few days and how much I will experience, so that everything doesn't become overwhelming. That's why today I'm going to flood you with blog entries.

After my lovely afternoon at the Pancake Rocks, I continued driving north. On the way, I passed through Westport and stopped at Cape Foulwind. There is a cute little lighthouse here and on the other side, a colony of seals. This time, I could see them from a completely new perspective - from above. They were peacefully sleeping among some rocks. After this little break, I continued driving to Karamea. There, I visited the tourist information center to learn about the nearby Heaphy Track and the tide times. After the nice man recommended a day trip for me, I drove to Kohaihai, the northernmost end of the road on the West Coast, which leads to the Heaphy Track and the Kohaihai Campground. Once again, I had the pleasure of camping right by the sea. After settling in for the evening, there was a knock on my window. A German couple who parked their car a couple of spots away invited me for dinner. Since they had cooked too much food the previous day and it contained minced meat, they didn't want to take any risks and invited me to join them for dinner. It was very delicious and it was nice to sit with other people, admire the sunset over the sea, and have a conversation. Around 8 o'clock, when it was dark, we said goodbye and I went to sleep.

The next morning (September 23rd), I climbed out of my car at 7 o'clock and had breakfast overlooking the sea. Shortly after 8 o'clock, I started my hike on the Heaphy Track. The trail was very beautiful, always along the coast but located in the rainforest. Quite an unreal combination but beautiful. After about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, I reached a river that I wouldn't have been able to cross with dry feet, and since I only had about half an hour left to walk in that direction, I decided to turn around and walk back. By noon, I was back at my car and after a quick snack, I headed towards Oparara Basin. It is a valley where several fascinating caves and natural bridges are located. The pictures I took can't even begin to capture how impressive these caves were. After exploring there, I drove back to Westport where I had booked a hostel room for the night. It was a large but nice hostel and I shared the room with three German girls who were very friendly. Unfortunately, the three of them had taken the thick mattresses, and mine was incredibly thin, so I could feel every slat of the bed.

After a more or less restful night, I set off towards Motueka today with the firm plan to book my trip on the Abel Tasman Coastal Great Walk. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for tomorrow is really terrible, so this trip will have to be postponed. However, since today was incredibly beautiful and warm, and my hostel had a clothesline outside, I took the opportunity to do my laundry for the first time in a long time. It was about time. I spent the rest of the day sitting outside in the sun, trying to plan my next few days. You can read about what happens next in the next blog post.

Until then,

Your Jessi