Day 4: Nelson & The Center of New Zealand

Climbed... another.... hill............ *gasp* *keel over*

It was the Center of New Zealand walk, leading up a nice and wide path (no tightrope walking along cliff faces) that was way too steep. Gluttons for punishment, it seems.

The view though... Wow. We hit the top around 5:00pm (it's 9:20pm now and still light outside WTF?) but the view was crazy. Do I sound like a cracked record yet? "Wellington OMG THE VIEW Picton OMG THE VIEW Nelson OMG THE VIEW". But it's true :(

I took a bunch of photos, obviously, but the sun was too low to get many good shots over Nelson and across the water to those mountains (the ones with the snow that Heath was pointing at below), but I did take another panorama looking inland, which I think is the way we head off tomorrow.

Nelson Panorama (Inland)

Full Sized Panorama: CLICK ME

 

Nelson Panorama (partial city panorama)

Full Sized Panorama: CLICK ME

After the mountain climb we headed out for dinner to a stonegrill restaurant (where you cook your own food on a hot slab of stone at your table). Awesome food. I couldn't wait for my steak to cook, so I hoed in while it still had moo in it. First time I've ever tried ultra-rare steak, and it was delicious! Everything was so good that I stuffed myself stupid and I'm having trouble sitting in a chair to write this.

We'll be off in the morning to Punakaiki (I think, anyway - we haven't totally made up our minds yet). Long drive, but with this scenery, I could drive 16 hours a day and not get bored.

EDIT: Did I mention that my GPS is a useless paperweight? I was told it came preloaded with New Zealand maps (the box also said this), as well as a note about a free update from their website. Well guess what: no NZ map, and no free update. I've contacted them about it once and they replied "Please send your receipt" so I replied "I'm in NEW ZEALAND I can't send you my receipt" and they haven't replied again. I don't know why they need a receipt anyway. They can check when my GPS was activated by serial number (the website tracks all of this shit) and the receipt doesn't mean crap since the unit is registered on the site, and I'm asking for the shit that's supposed to be fucking included in the first place. I wonder if Garmin will stumble upon this blog? Because right now I'm writing down directions off google maps, and wishing I'd spent the money on an atlas instead.