HALFTIME

Day 38/39 - 10/18/23 - HALF TIME

Yesterday we first visited Nelson, a town with around 50 residents, had our daily capu/latte with cake and then went back to our beautiful house to enjoy the sun on the terrace.

After shopping for a few groceries today, we drove along the coast to Marahau, in the north-east of the South Island, right next to the Abels Tasman National Park - wonderful - wonderful - wonderful.

During a walk we again and again noticed animal traps and signs about them. New Zealand - probably like no other country - looks at their bio-security. This starts with preparing for the trip (clean shoes, dirt-free hiking clothes and utensils). When you enter the country, bio-security people check compliance with this. Nevertheless, invasive species also reach New Zealand. Traps are explicitly set up for rats or stoats and “immigrated” wasps are also pointed out.

We are now halfway through our journey. We are amazed at how much we have already seen, feel the time passing quickly - we lose all sense of the date or day of the week - and are happy to still have so much time ahead of us.