Sound the retreat

Saturday 20th. A bright sunny morning and breakfast was laid outside for us. 

We then drove through the mountains via Havelock to Nelson. Here we met up with the first real traffic for some weeks and encountered out first traffic jam! Nelson is right on the coast and we stopped at The Boat Shed for a short break. 

We wish we'd stopped for lunch as the menu looked amazing. Unfortunately we were still feeling the after effects of breakfast and promised ourselves a stop here on our way back. 

After that we drove up Takaka Hill. All the signs say Hill but if you look at the map, the road looks like strangled spaghetti and the contours aren't much better! For Hill read Alpine Pass! 

We took another break at Hawkes Lookout which looks all the way back to Motueka and Nelson. 

Then on through Takaka, toward Collingwood. Just before Collingwood we turned off the main road onto a gravel track that led to Ao-Marama Retreat. Here we were shown to our cabin with a beautiful view over Golden Bay. 

The retreat is on a self-catering basis with communal cooking area, toilets and showers. Very much like the old setup at Othona but, because of the climate, more open to the elements. The retreat was a former Buddhist monks retreat and the couple now running it are English. It's a small world! 

The first night we just sat watching the sun go down. 

Reach for the skies

Friday 19th. We thought that the tourist trail might be for us today, so we set off to find the Vines Village. Here is a collection of boutique stores and family friendly activities and, according to the publicity, The Vines Village is a must visit destination for lovers of wine, food, art & design. Granted that it is a lovely place with a cafe, play area for children, a large pond, games area and children's cycle track and boutique shops, oh and a quilting shop par excellence. But for us it was just too boutiquey, too arty and too expensive for our tastes. Sorry, nice stuff, nice place but ten minutes and we were gone. 

So we set off to our next point on the trail, a vineyard - Highfield & Terra Vin. Being tourists we decided on a wine tasting but first we were invited to see the view from the top of their tower. It was well worth the climb. 

On to the tasting. We sampled their Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir. We realised very quickly how poor the quality is of some of the wines we drink. At the end of the tasting we bought a couple of bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay which we will probably save until next week. 

Having not taken advantage of the spittoon, we thought it a good idea to stay on for lunch. This was taken on their terrace overlooking the vineyard. How the other half lives. 

After a very leisurely lunch, accompanied by a glass of Riesling, we poodled off along the road to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre where Sir Peter Jackson’s own collection of WW1 aircraft and artifacts is on show. 

Now, many of you will know that Sir Peter was the director, writer and producer of The Lord of the Rings. The following is a direct quote from their website: This story of aviation in the Great War is brought to life in sensational sets created by the internationally acclaimed talent of WingNut Films and Weta Workshop. The theatrical treatment is both innovative and visually stunning. Captivating scenes depict the aircraft in context, sometimes recreating an incident that actually happened in the war. Rare memorabilia is on display, worthy of any national collection and ranges from beautifully crafted ‘trench art’ through to personal items belonging to the famous Red Baron himself. 

We spent nearly two hours wandering round. If ever you're in Blenheim, it's well worth the visit. 

After that, back home for a turn in the spa bath. Wheeee! 

Loss of wifi

May not be able to post for a while - not sure if we will have wifi where we are going. 

Posting from a pub at the moment, The Mussel Inn. Have just had a wonderful steak and Brigid had a plateful of fish. 

Will post again when back in the real world. 

Off to Blenheim - not the palace, but nearly!

Thursday 18th. Wow, wow, wow, what a change! But, let's not run before we can walk. Start from the beginning. 

Woke up in our motel in Murchisson to a much better day after rain, thunder and lightning during the night. Supposedly an unusual occurrence here. Not used to having to make our own toast and tea, also, not used to not having someone else to chat with. Not to worry, at least we could get up when we wanted to without worrying about our host waiting for us to appear. 

The drive today was much better insofar as it wasn't raining all the time, just low cloud hanging onto the tops of the trees. For the morning we followed the Buller River until we reached Saint Arnaud. All the way the river was a raging torrent after the heavy rains. We kept stopping so that Brigid could use her video camera but we forgot about the iPad! 

At Saint Arnaud we went to see Lake Rotoiti and have a brief walk around. Signs kept informing us that dogs were not allowed as this was a Kiwi area. Safe to say we didn't see one! We saw fantail, bellbirds, Australia Magpie, blackbird and others we couldn't identify. Plenty of ducks and sandfly! Luckily we have some anti-sandfly spray but one bee in particular seemed to quite like it and wouldn't stop following us. We fled back to the car! 

After that we followed the Wairau River all the way to Blenheim. In places the road was flooded because of the rains. As we got nearer to Blenheim, so the vineyards started to appear. Mile after mile of vines. 

We stopped for a quick sandwich in the centre of town and walked along the riverside through the park. 

Here is the main railway crossing the river. I wonder how old the timbers are. 

We then tried to drive round to Wairau Bar but all access roads were flooded. Instead we went to Rarangi beach. The sea was crashing in and we were just getting ready to spend a half hour on the beach when the wind got up, whipped the sand horizontally along the beach and it started to rain. Back to the car and onto our next B&B. 

I'm not going to say anymore, just look at the pictures. 

Once again we are in heaven. 

If anyone is thinking of coming to New Zealand, go the B&B route, you meet some wonderful people and stay in some very different houses. It's great. 

Forecast rain

Wednesday 17th. Despite the rain another lovely drive through a bit more of the southern Alps to Murchisson. 

Having been unable to access wifi for the last three nights we had to hunt round for a motel with a vacancy. Mataki Motel is a pleasant place but the most expensive that we have stayedin. Also, wifi isn't that great either. Will have to see whether or not it improves with time. Came out to lunch to try and find a wifi signal but no luck. Could pay to join a public network but not sure that it is worth it. 

Returned to motel, spoke to owner who fiddled about with connectors and reset routers and all now seems to be working. 

A quiet supper in the motel and then bed. 

A short walk

Tuesday 16th. The weather forecast for this afternoon suggested rain so we thought that a short walk in the morning would be good. 

We drove to Ngakawau to the start of the Charming Creek walkway. There we had a choice of various walks from between 15 minutes and 3 hours. We set off on the fifteen minute walk. 

The walk was alongside the creek, following the path of a railway built to transport logs and coal from higher up the gorge. 

We then decided to move on to the hour and a half walk, just to see how we would get on. 

After that things got somewhat confused. We were feeling good at this stage and the route times indicated that you could get to the Charming Creek Road car park in 3 hours. Well, that didn't seem too bad. Another hour and a half and we'd be back at the car. 

When we reached the gold mine (which was a two hour and fifty minutes walk) it dawned on us that we were heading towards a different car park, not our starting point. 

Having confirmed with some rangers, who were repairing one of the old trucks, that this was in fact the case, we had to turn round and retrace our steps. Luckily it was all downhill and only took two hours! But this was two hours longer than intended. 

Not too sure about the spring above. There was a very strong smell of sulphur and all the rocks were stained white. The pool was bubbling away quite steadily as well. 

But then it started to rain. 

After it was all over, we had a good laugh about it - and if you believe that, you'll believe anything! Still, back home, hot shower and the rest of the afternoon on the bed reading and zzzing. 

Back to Miners on Sea for supper where we both had the steak. Got talking to a bush guide about her work on the Heaphy Track. It's marvellous out here that people will start up a conversation without any embarrassment or modesty. They just come out with: are you visitors here? and carry on from there. We love it. 

Off the beaten track

Monday 15th February. 

Unfortunately we are offline again for a while unless we can find a local bar or cafe with wifi. This is slightly awkward for us as we haven't yet booked the next B&B! Still, not to worry, there seem to be vacancies in motels at the moment so we should be able to sort something out without too much problem. 

Today we drove as far north as we were able before running out of road. 

We drove through Mokihinui and Little Wanganui before arriving at Karamea. Even then we drove further north until we arrived at the Kahurangi National Park and the start of the Heaphy Track. This track is a four day hike through the park and before setting off you have to book your overnight stay at various huts along the way so that the wardens can monitor your journey and make sure that no one gets lost. 

We did a modest hours walk along the river and then up to a lookout point and, even though the path was clearly marked, you could see how easy it would be to get lost if you were to stray from the gravel path. 

During the walk we could hear a helicopter coming and going and when we reached the lookout point we could see it going even further north carrying supplies or materials up the coast. Without roads this is the easiest way to get things around. 

  

Thought we saw a Kiwi but don't think its beak was long enough. Will have to look it up when we get back online. Apparently it's called a Bushy. Found this out later. 

When we got to lookout point after 30 minute hike uphill, we found a picnic bench there. I'm not complaining, it was nice to sit there and have our lunch of snack bar and water. So thank you to whoever had the bright idea of carting a picnic bench halfway up a mountain. I wonder if that was airlifted in as well. 

On our way back down three rangers passed us on motorbikes going further along the track. With the gravelled paths they can quickly get along the track either to sort out any emergency or just to get to work. What a place to work! 

 

When we go walking we have sensible shoes on and yet others come tripping along in flip flops! We've got water, insect repellent, cameras, video and iPad and all they have is a mobile phone. Oh, and some of the Chinese have umbrellas. Although no Chinese today where we've been. Some Germans, French and an English lady from Somerset. 

On the way home we stopped at The Last Resort for tea and coffee and a sticky fudgey slice. That'll keep us going for the moment. 

Later we went to Miners on Sea for supper. Brigid had lamb shank and I had a Scottish fillet steak. The cafe was almost a beach shack and we sat watching the waves crashing into the shore. 

Went down to the beach to watch the waves for a little longer before returning home.