As predicted

It really is a downpour rainy day. We got up early and left Poharau so there was soft rain and fog for the drive back to Motueka. We are parked in our spot for the night and are just reading and stuff for the day. This van is stressful enough to drive in good weather, so a day off is just right. We are heading to Havelock tomorrow - green mussel capital!

Some confusion

I think I need to clarify something about our transportation and housing! The first camper is one we saw on the road and I used as a joke! Apparently, I wasn't clear. The second is the real one. Here we are driving a Mercedes and some think we are driving a "chicken coop on wheels". Man, not at this price!

Little blue penguin

The littles blues don't beach here until winter when they start to nest. This one (molting) is out at sea and feeding. They will stay out in the water for months and never think of going on land.

Baby mussel area

Here, they get young mussels as they float through the water. The young ones attach themselves to ropes the fishers have strung. When big enough, they are removed and sent to another mussel farm. They have this done to them a few times until they are ready to be marketed as green lipped mussels! Scarey things are happening, however. Some donut in a boat from South Africa released ballast and they are trying desperately to clean up what is a real threat to the native mussel. Lots of worried people here.

Murderers Bay

Apparently when Abel Tasman arrived here in 1642, a Maouri sounded a shell to his boats. Tasman replied. Appears to be a clash of miscommunication. Tasman had a small boat attacked by the Maouri which resulted in the death of four sailors. Tasman left but called the place Murderers Bay. Likely, as this was an important fishing area for the Maouri, Tasman was being warned off. NZ decided to rename the bay and it is now Golden Bay!

Poharau Beach

Until sometime in the 1980s, this place was home only to a cement factory. Apparently the dust was so bad it covered everything so no one wanted to live here. Once the factory was forced to close, then came the holiday homes and tourists!

Another day on the water

We went to the holiday park office this morning to pay for another night and overheard a fellow describing a trip to a Danish couple. Because of BIG rain coming in tomorrow, he was offering his trip today for only $50 (that's a deal in nz by any comparison). So, we were thinking about it and Linda said,"Oh, let's just get it over with." Oddly, I didn't quite understand the sentiment. She meant, we were likely going to finally decide to do it so let's just go pay! It was worth it. A boat similar to the water taxi we were on before gave a us a nice tour over another part of Abel Tasman Pk shoreline. Dropped us at Awaroa Bay and got us a few hours later. We had a nice walk on the beach. The clouds and wind are definately changing. The beach is shorter than Sauble, but the sand is lovely. Prediction for tomorrow is that starting around 10 am there will be 25 mm of rain per hour!!

The 6 of us

Rachel is a young woman from Eng who is trying to get residency in nz. Our French couple were tourists. Mary, our guide, is from nz and a recent mom. We all had a good time together.

A wonderful day at sea

We did a full day kayaking trip today along parts of the Abel Tasman park. We met our group (3 others) and our guide in Marahau. That meant leaving our campsite at 7:30 and we were plenty early (us type a's do that). We were outfitted with shirts, pfd and boarded a boat which was on a trailor and hauled by a tractor to the sea. Must say, felt pretty silly going down the road in a boat wearing my pfd! The tractor took us out to the water as it was low tide. The boat was then launched and off we went. We picked up our kayaks at Anchorage Bay and loaded them on the water taxi. Then we headed further up to Onetahuti. We got in our kayaks there and then paddled for some time looking for seals. Then we had a long paddle down past the Tonga Arches and into Mosquito Bay for lunch. No mosquitos! Had a swim, ate lunch, chatted, sunned and then paddled off again. For the last little bit of the adventure, we rafted up (only 3 boats) and put up a sail which took us back to Anchorage Bay. There, we reboarded the water taxi and returned to Marahau. All in all, a lovely day. Some good paddling against rough water as the wind really did pick up in the afternoon. Linda got soaked during the sailing part as the bows did really sink through the waves. I got mine from a huge splash in the water taxi later. Back on dry land around 4:30. We then got in the van and drove to Poharu Beach and immediately took hot showers (couple of hours later). Tired now. Expect a good sleep.

Split Apple Rock

It is a landmark and it is obviously named correctly. Quite lovely, really.

Meet Dave

Dave owns and operates this boat. A long history - since Christmas! He is former teacher. He quit after refusing to sign a "more postive" report for a student that admin had written and he refused to sign! So, now he spends his days in the beautiful place on the beautiful water. Good on you Dave!

Kaiteriteri Beach

Went just up the road today to what is listed as one of nz best beaches. It was nice. Started with a coffee at the shore and then I got Linda onto another boat! A slow trip (5 kts) up the coast to Split Apple Rock where we put out anchor and had another coffee! They love coffee here and they make great stuff. I have not had much coffee over the past few years - lost my taste for it. Here, it starts with espresso and then warm frothed milk (a flat white). Good.

Motueka

We are now near Abel Tasman Pk. We have booked a kayaking daytrip for Thurs. I spent a couple of hours reading and playing in the pool while Linda did the laundry (believe it - she likes it). This is the first time I've been in a pool since Fiji. I went in that pool dispite the debris from the cyclone. Also rearranged our ferry date back to the north island. We are going back earlier so we can do more up there before we leave.

Two questions

To all those who have been here before I have 2 questions:

Why no warning about sand flies (put black flies to shame) and that a bbq is no more than a communal frying pan?

Enjoying the Camper

We have been enjoying the camper, once I got used to making WIDE turns so I didn't bump the back end. Parking is even getting easier. We are thinking about looking into one once we get home. How about this as a template?

Buller River and Gorge

We followed the Buller River for some time. Murchison is the village that marks the earthquake of 193something. It affected much of the area including the spot I will feature next. It is NZ longest suspension bridge and for a mere $5 you can walk over it and back. For $25 you can walk over, do a trail for 15 min. and then do a zip line back. Linda waited - I zipped. It was a lot of fun!

Westport to Nelson

Woke up in the middle of the night as we were getting rained on! It poured all night long. Fortunately, the day has been great. Started off cool and misty by the sea, but improved as we went overland. We started the day by going to explore Cape Foulwind. How could I possibly drive by a sign like that and not go see? It really is an exposed spot but very pretty. You can already see increased activity in holiday accommodation and homes. It was a manned lighthouse until the 60's.

Westport

We are in Westport tonight, the last of our west coast stops. We head tomorrow towards Nelson. I would like to spend a couple of days in Abel Tasman Park before we go back to the north island.

Punakaiki

These are the amazing Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point. This effect is layers of limestone separated by thin layers of mudstone. I don't think they know why this happened. There are also great blowholes most active at high tide. We were a couple of hours late, but still had a great experience.

Beach art

I saw these on my walk and love it! The net (the last picture) is a mattress coils.

Greenstone

I should say abit more about the stone. I had and has spiritual meaning for the Maori and because it is fairly hard it was also used for tools. This included clubbing weapons. The resource was handed back to the Maori as part of a settlement in 1997.

Hokitika

What a pretty little town on the sea. It was Sunday, so it was pretty quiet (yes, people don't work Sunday, shops close at 4:30 on weekdays, all very strange for us). Once gold town, now it is greenstone (jade). They sell a lot of greenstone jewellery and carvings in nz. There are working artists here and so there is a much greater quality of merchandise. Linda did more shopping and I walked the beach. The town clock is neat and there is a Carnegie library! Built 1908.

franz josef glacier

So, off we went to see another glacier. The rain obviously affected the river and water flow. There were chunks of ice in the river. Bottle this stuff and you can sell it as glacial water - oh, has someone done that already?

Morning after

We stayed in a very modern camp or holiday park as they call them. Slept listening to the rain and when I went out in the morning I had quite a surprise! Who knew this was in view - wasn't in the clouds and rain. Here is Franz Josef!

Soggy night

As I said, it was a soggy night. It rained all night long. We did laundry and dried out clothes. Does this look like fun? Not bad, really.

Fox

We did see ice break off from the glacier and then heard the boom later. Love it when science class comes to life!

Fox Glacier

It seems to us that it rains here a lot! What better weather for approaching a glacier than pouring rain. Oh well, not likely to be here again so off we trudged. Needless to say, we spent a fair bit of time at the laundry facility at the campsite.

From Haast to Fox Glacier

The road and scenery were terrific. Just a sample for you to enjoy. The first one is what the land looks like at the sea if just left (rain forest).