More from Nelson, NZ

Well...it's our last night in Nelson and, sadly, the last night of chocolate pudding and ice cream. I can't remember if I filled you all in but we decided to stay here to wait out some rainy weather before we move on to Abel Tasman National Park. It was a good call.

Yesterday we walked around a bit and saw a mama duck and her babies. After that we went to the beach and even though I was bundled up in socks, pants and a fleece it was a relaxing few hours watching the waves come in.

Today we decided to go to a workshop to make bone carvings. Evan made a fish hook which symbolizes good luck and prosperity on journeys, especially over water. I made a pikorua. It symbolizes 2 fern shoots embracing each other. The story was about 2 little ferns that grew up next to each other and as they got bigger their trunks interlaced and they could never be separated. To the Maori (native) people of New Zealand pikorua means eternity, infinity and the everlasting bonds of friendship ‎​as well as the continuous flow of energy between spiritual and material world. I designed it, carved it, sanded it and polished it and then Evan "gave" it to me by putting it around my neck just like I gave him his. We're each supposed to wear them until we find the right person to give it to. Because we've worn it, it keeps a piece of us with it and will give whoever we give our respective necklaces to a connection to us. And as it gets passed from person to person we all get tied together. Pretty cool. Oh, and cocoa the cat was a big help with all of that.

We hit the grocery store and cooked up some fajitas for dinner. I managed to drink an entire bottle of wine and it's about 1 hour til pudding time. Hopefully we get some decent weather as we move back out to the wilderness tomorrow for a few days.