Monday, March 17
Nelson to Picton. Actually, I am jotting down this update from the inter-island ferry (on morning of the 18th), watching the craggy coastline of the South Island slowly fade away below me. (I still can't help thinking of it as above and below -- as if everything in the Southern Hemisphere was sliding precariously and inevitably towards the South Pole.) Back to March 17. After breaking camp (from Dave's Palace -- a great hostel in an old house overlooking Nelson), we headed down to Stewarts Cycle City and sent off our latest update with the help of head-guy Mike Watson. Mike, thanks for letting us plug in (and, Malcom, thanks for the invite). So, with our electronic needs taken care of we rode out of Dodge, past the odd sight of boats stranded by the low tide and up into the hills. 
The day was filled with a fair amount of climbing through country that reminded me very much of the Colorado Rockies, the hillsides covered with rows and rows of evergreens. Yes, that (rows and rows) means this is logging country. Oddly, it seems that when they reforest a region, they relocate the trees in rows rather than randomly. So, looking around the landscape, you end up with this weird sensation of something being out of place. The wilderness still remains, but the natural chaos has been subtly rearranged and ordered. At Havelock (about 35K out of Picton) we turned off the main road and headed out to the coast. This turned out to be a superb choice. The road twisted its way along the coastline, leisurely making its way into Picton. Here, the tropical climate returned, with fern trees and dense undergrowth everywhere. Houses would be tucked away in tiny inlets, often only accessible by water. Now the North Island is coming into view through the ferry windows, and so begins the second half of our journey. The bottom right photo is Picton.
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