Despite the sandflies, we had a great time enjoying the clear, emerald green waters of the Pelorus and taking our time as many large trout drew my attention. Sadly, the elusive browns did not grow large being stupid and I couldn't get any to take a fly. Some wouldn't even let me get within 40 feet of them. I saw many huge long-finned eels, and after watching that River Monsters episode and definitely checked the pools before jumping in.
We have been following the Te Araroa for roughly 150 kilometers know and we finally met another tramper loosely following the path too. Like us, he wasn't too thrilled about some of the sections and has been improvising his way along, skipping the 90 mile beach and the southland farm sections. We have also seen several other TA hikers listed in the hut log books including one crazed Aussie that is attempting to run the whole think in 60 day (over 50km a day!).
The climb out of Pelorus was arduous; some 2000 foot climb over 5 km, a little more climbing through the alpine ridges, then 3000 feet of knee grinding decent to Nelson at sea level. We found a backpacker but check in wasn't until 3 pm, so we went round the corner to the pub for a pint and BLT's! The got a couple scoops of ice cream for the walk back to the hostel. A soak in the hot tub and our knees were totally forgotten.
Nelson is a nice little beachy town not unlike Santa Cruz. It is bike friendly with lots of mountain bike trails in the surrounding hills, nice little communities, good beers and wine, the coast. We rented bikes, eat fish and chips, did our errands, swam in the pool, and generally chilled out. We even went to see Skyfall our last night there at the local theatre, a civilized treat before hitting the trail again.
Now we are preparing for another great walk, the Heaphy. We'll be on until the 4th, then back to the TA.
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