Orcas!, originally uploaded by strativari.

Can you see them all? (It’s ruof of them.) Yes I am a lucky guy! Right time, right spot. More photos on flickr.

Spirit Of Cable Bay, originally uploaded by strativari.

This is it! the result of my bonecarving experience. It will travel with me and share the spirit of the places where I go. Five minutes after I took this picture the orcas appeared.

The One Ring, originally uploaded by strativari.

Here it is! My first Lord Of The Rings encounter. A small jewellery in Nelson made the most famous ring in the world. Replicas for sale.

My car has got it’s name! I proudly present to you: Charlie

Change of plans folks! I applied for a job in Nelson. Guess what - it’s apple picking! I agreed with the employer to start work after easter and so I decided to travel the south island first. Said, done. I left sunny Nelson yesterday and drove west again. On my way i picked up Paul, an American cyclist. Good to have a van if you want to oick up a biker!
The weather changed these days and the west coast is victim to strong winds, heavy rain and hail. Lucky Paul, he could escape the forces of nature!
Together we went to Punakaiki. As we arrived late and couldn’t find a place to stay we had to camp in the bush. Whooo… The roadsign told us: This road is subject to flooding! Hmm… anyway. No other place to stay and we are still alive.
But the view of the famous pancake rocks we had this morning repaid us. 3 to 4 metre waves crashed into the cliffs and foam and spray were carried away by the wind. Wicked!

The great outdoors got me again this weekend. This time it was the Abel Tasman NP. I decided to one day of walking and as a little bonus a kayak daytrip. Packed my bag and of I went. After getting dropped off by a water taxi in one of the many bays along the coastline I strolled along the beach into the lush green forest. Having seen Jurassic Park I wouldn’t have been surprised if I had seen some dinosaurs stomping through this kind of native forest. After a night under an amazing starry sky today was dedicated to water sports.
It’s like paradise. Beautiful coastline with golden beaches, turquoise waters, and loads of strange wildwilfe. We saw rare blue penguins, stingrays, wetas, shags, fur seals and a special treat, a blue shark. The walk throught pathways of massive fern trees and a thicket of native plants was great but nothing can beat the kayak experience. Sea kayaking in double kayaks is so easy to learn and so much fun! As the wind freshened up today we were even able to sail for a while! I will definitely feel my shoulders tomorrow and my sense of balance is quite weak tonight but this was worth it! A few pictures follow.

I think I should tell some more about bonecarving. It’s about making jewellery from cowbones. In Maori tradition bone and especally greenstone carving play an important role. mostly necklaces are cut and carved from greenstone (jade) and bones. And that’s what we did. I will soon show you the surprising result of half a days work on a piece of dead cow.

I had a night out once again. Went to Cable Bay north of Nelson. It’s got it’s name from the first telegraphic cable laid from OZ to NZ. After a nice evening and a goog night’s sleep I had an extremely lazy morning. But after beating my lame ass up a hill I was rewarded with a beautiful view of the bay, Abel Tasman NP in the background. I spent half an hour just looking lazily down the cliffs. Suddenly I saw moving shadows in the water…

Killer wales! Four of them. Two adults and to children swimming along the cliffs just at arms length. Ok, I stood 100m above them, but still. Wow, impressive! And I took my camera. So wait till tomorrow.

Today I joined a bonecarving workshop. It was amazing. I am surprised what you can create in half a day. Also Stephan our teacher told us much about the maori tradition behind the craft of bone and jade carving. Wait till you see the pics.

Enjoy the photos, mates! I’m going to visit the geographical Centre of New Zealand now and relax at the beach! Cheers mates, cya!