Nelson Lakes

Nelson Lakes reminds us of places in Colorado. We are higher in elevation and away from the ocean. The days are hotter and the nights are colder. It is the busy season, but we still didn't have much trouble showing up without a reservation and finding a place to camp. There isn't much to do at Nelson Lakes, so we walked, fished, and relaxed.

One of our trails.

This might have been our first taste of what we have been told to expect from the dreaded sandflies. They are actually a blackfly. Those of you entomologists or fly fishermen would be interested to know that they are a midge. Either way, THEY BITE. The anti coagulants in their saliva help leave pools of blood when they are done feasting. There are millions of them on our tent. It sounds like rain when they can't escape and they bash themselves between our tent and rainfly. I thoroughly enjoy killing them when they land on me, but it never deters the others. We bought "army grade" insect repellent, but the welts continue to show up.

One of the lakes, with tea.

We have been warned that the west side of the island has heaps of these blasted creatures so tomorrow we plan to start our journey down the west coast. The West has also been described as stunningly beautiful... if it isn't raining.

Whisky (sic) Falls.

In the end, we had a few hours of sunshine, but never any relief from the sandflies. It rained and was buggy, so we left Nelson Lakes without having too much fun. Now we are in Westport, a small run down town that is left over from the mining days. The big attraction is the coal mine and processing plant. We are out of here tomorrow! Happy New Year.

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