Winter's First Frost

Two days ago we crossed over by ferry to the South Island. It was a three-hour journey on a ten-story ferry. Epic. The last hour was spent working through channels in the Southern Island -beautiful. Teal Water, snow-capped Mountains...For those of you interested in our journey, google map Picton to see how maneuverable we had to be.

We filled up with gas and headed off to Abel Tasman, a sweet national park for hikes and kayaks. Our motor camp is right on the beach, which right now we are getting a view of majestic mountains from the other side of the bay and rock islands on our shores.

The next morning catching our water taxi into the national park and going on a four hour hike before being picked back up. Here, we walked through fern forests and golden beaches. The photo (pending) show a beautiful landscape that looks warm and sunny - They lie.

That night we spent eating some delicous stew-thing and went to bed refreshed and ready to go out again. We did not anticipate the morning we were about to have...

COLD!!! We woke up to frost on the grass and a frozen beach! Opening up the door proved difficult due to being frosted over and the very air we breathed was ice. Jax's insolation, questionable. But we did warm ourselves to some tea and extra layers before setting off again to Abel Tasman for another day.

Today, pretty much the same with two exceptions. One, dolphin followed our boat. Coolest part, it was jumping in the wake we were creating, looked magical and a bit out of a Disney movie. Two, gave Jax a drive today and went up North a bit where we harvested a bunch of cockles to eat tonight as an appetizer. Nick really doesn't like oysters so we'll see how he does with these...

Now that we're in a bitter frost, some desperate measures have to be had. The White Russians keep us warm for the first hour of sleep, but the rest of the night is bitterly Siberian. Today we grabbed a rock and the plan is to heat it up as hot as we can and have it slowly radiate it's load throughout the night. We'll keep you posted...

Tomorrow we head out on our two-day trip to Fox Glacier. Stay Tuned!

Take Care (Jer),
Much Love (Nick),
Over and Out (Jax),