Next Stop Nelson

While I was sorting photos for this blog post I can across this lovely one of a yacht berthed in one of the large estuaries between Takaka & Collingwood. I’d stopped there with Diane on our way back from seeing the shags at Tata Beach, the light from the early morning sun and the calm water were just right for a perfect capture.

We left Collingwood heading for Motueka where I had a hair appointment booked for early afternoon. I’d had my hair done at Bliss Hair Salon before we left Kaiteriteri & Jo had done such a great job I thought it would be opportune to have it done again on the way back through the town. Finding a good hairdresser when you’re on the road is like finding gold.

Crossing back over the “feared” Takaka Hill was problem free although we did meet a little more traffic than last time including a few big truck & trailer units. We took our time and pulled over into one of the many passing bays as soon as traffic appeared behind & at one stage we had to pull up at a narrow section to let an oncoming large truck through. It was slow haul up and just as slow a wind down the other side. It was great to arrive safe & sound in Riwaka where all the fruit trees were in blossom, gardens full of daffodils and kowhai in flower along the roadside. Spring had arrived while we were in Golden Bay.

Originally we thought we might head on to Nelson after my appointment but as we’d arrived early we decided to take a look at a freedom camping spot at Port Motueka where you can stay for a maximum of 3 nights. We liked what we saw and with just another 5th-wheeler already in place it looked a good spot to stay overnight. We unhitched and David ran me back into town. By the time we got back late in the afternoon the car park had another 4 or 5 vans of various shapes & sizes parked up and by night fall there were 11 vehicles and the carpark full. This spot is obviously well known and patronized probably because it's not too far from the Abel Tasman Park.

Some of the benefits of our slow travel is the fact that there’s no hurry for us to get on the road when it comes time to leave, we usually only move 50-100kms and in fact today it’s just 33kms to Richmond where we'll stay. By the time we open our doors in the morning the car park has virtually emptied. Just the two 5th-wheelers and two campervans, one had obviously been somewhere where they’d had torrential rain. It looked like every piece of clothing and camping gear along with the tent was hung out to dry.

Port Motueka is a lovely area surrounded by those ever present estuaries and huge tidal plains that have become a familiar  feature of our visit to the Tasman District. Over the bank on the far side of the carpark is the historic Motueka Saltwater Bath. When I saw a sign further down the road pointing the way to the pool I told David there were pools close by. He asked me if I knew if they were heated or not. I had a laugh when I went for a walk to check them out.

This type of pool is now unusual in NZ although they were quite popular at seaside (obviously) towns of yesteryear. The baths were built in 1938 after families camping nearby over summer were concerned about sharks. The pool was renovated in 1992 when the wooden railings, decks & a concrete floor were added; before then it wouldn't have been more than a concrete pit. There is a special gate that lets the incoming tide fill the pool, the pool is hosed down and cleaned every couple of weeks between October and April. I’m not so sure you could do your daily laps here but it certainly would be a good place to cool off over summer. Especially when the tide was out.

We have now been parked up at the Richmond Racecourse for just over a week, although not a NZMCA Park, the campground is for fully self contained NZMCA members only. There are toilets and a laundry and a few powered sites (if required) plus a resident camp manager. It’s very handy to the Richmond shopping mall and main street and just 15kms from Nelson city centre.

We’ve not done, & won’t be doing, too much exploring around Nelson. We had a few errands to do in town, have the ute serviced and of course cast our vote last weekend. Casting a special vote had us nearly choosing a candidate from a Maori electorate! We were given the wrong forms to fill in and it was only when I couldn’t see a familiar name on the voting paper that I realised what had happened. Back to the desk and another 15 minutes of filling in forms had us finally with the correct papers.

It amazes me that after all we’ve done in making sure our address is correct for all our personal affairs, as in a box number because we have no fixed abode, we still have to have our last known address on the electoral roll. This is just plain silly, ok we’ve only been gone from Tauranga for a year and we know the relevant candidates but what happens in 3, 6 or 12 years time (if we’re still on the road) when we wouldn’t have a clue who our candidates were. It was hard enough recalling our old address when asked this time, let alone in a few years!

On the weekend we went for a tiki tour along the water front, checking the Tahunanui peninsula out and driving right to the end where we had wonderful views out over more tidal flats to the snow covered mountains beyond. To the right are Mt Arthur and other mountains in Kahurangi National Park which was where we had walked and driven through the snow. We thought we might have been able to complete the walk to Mt Arthur Hut while parked up here in Nelson but a heavy dumping of snow last week has put paid to that.

The carparks at the end of the of the sandy track were full of cars and out on the sand in both directions were dozens of people walking. And dogs running. This was obviously a popular dog walking area and being a lovely sunny weekend day everyone was out enjoying it.

We’ve been to the city twice and both times we came across this fellow, he’s obviously a permanent fixture around town, I seem to recall an article or two on him on TV & in the paper, something about taking up carparks and nor paying a fee. I think the council need to collect over $50,000 in fines. I say good luck with that one. David had recollections of his childhood in the UK when he saw him coming down the road; he was waiting for him to call out “Rag 'n bones, rag 'n bones”

After a visit to the WOW museum (more on that in another post) we drove along the waterfront, stopping to book dinner at The Boatshed Cafè. We’ve been waiting to stay in Nelson since David’s birthday back in July when the family gave him a dinner voucher for the restaurant. We’re looking forward to sampling the seafood on offer.

Another perfect day of spring sunshine and people out enjoying it. Although we did have a blustery day earlier in the week that wasn't much fun.

And one last photo, an abandoned farmhouse on the main road into Richmond; perfect fodder for a photographer!

Pink Ponds & the Salt Shaker

We didn’t move too far south after leaving Blenheim, just 45 kms down the road and passing through the fast expanding vineyards of the Awatere Valley on the way. No matter which direction  you looked on the road out of Blenheim it is evident that grapes are providing the Marlborough district with a very profitable income, there are many grand wineries & homes along the way. We will no doubt spend a bit more time in the area checking the wineries, their cellar doors & restaurants out when we are back this way later in the year.

In the end we had three nights at the Blenheim’s Top10 Holiday Park, each morning deciding to stay one more night. We’ve met quite a few people who spend time on the road & sing the virtues of  freedom camping; about the minimal costs associated with it, the excitement of finding the next overnight “spot” etc, and even though our membership with the NZMCA gives us access to hundreds of “park over properties” & “low cost parking” options we fully intend to take regular advantage of the many camping grounds & holiday parks dotted around New Zealand. Aside from the fact that many are in great locations with superb grounds & facilities we want to be able to hook up to the power, access the internet, have a shower without keeping track of our water use, do the laundry, wash the ute & do other chores, or even to just chill for a couple of days. We’ve a long time on the road ahead of us & this will also give us more of a balance in our new lifestyle.

There are a few places along the way, on this journey south to Invercargill, that I have earmarked for a visit. We will be back this way in time but possibly in a different season & some of the phenomenon’s only happen at certain times of the year & the rather alien looking salt flats at Lake Grassmere is one of them. This is where the bulk of NZ’s salt comes from, last summer over 88,000 tonnes of salt was harvested. The seawater is pumped into deep holding pens & then into the shallow crystallisation ponds & allowed to evaporate leaving great expanses of salt behind to be gathered & processed. At the end of the lake are the gorgeous coloured crystallisation ponds, the colour is caused by green algae bloom that changes to pink in the high salt concentration and the colour is usually very intense in spring & early summer.

Initially after stopping on the main highway I could see that I couldn’t get up close to the ponds from the road and while you could see the terraces of pink, I wanted to get right up beside them. So this morning I parked up beside the main rail line and walked down the rail line and over a bridge to the ponds. Being a Sunday there was no one around and I managed to shoot quite a few photos. Quite a few, now that’s an understatement if ever I heard one. Way, way too many to process. I keep saying it, I just need to learn to shoot less otherwise I’m going to be spending an awful lot of time indoors! But the setting was fantastic and the ponds really quite fascinating and one click lead to another and another and……….you get the picture. Well actually you get a few! You don't think I'm going to go to all that effort & let you get away with just a couple do you? :)

Beside Lake Grassmere and overlooking Clifford Bay are Marfells Beach & the DOC campground which is where we are now staying. There’s something about the seaside that gets your senses singing & it’s been a few months now since we’ve heard the waves crashing just below our bedroom window & smelt the sea in the air (I don’t count Mt Maunganui in this as we were set back off the beach a little & the waves you could only hear during the storm(s) or in the small hours after the city noise had died down). This place reminds us of Port Jackson, way up there at the top of the Coromandel. Beautiful curved crescent of white sand & blue water & nobody about (well nearly).

At the approach of low tide a steady convoy of wet-suited people on noisy quad bikes made their way past our campsite along the beach and under the white limestone bluffs of Clifford Bay & around the point and further on. We walked to the point, aptly named Mussel Point as it turns out, & that was as far as my feet would take me which was just as well as we would have missed this spectacular view of the Cape Campbell Lighthouse. 

 

The bikes and their occupants disappeared into the haze heading for the reef just off the cape where by the look of their bins and bags on their return they got enough paua (NZ abalone) & crayfish(lobster) to feed themselves & an army. David failed to work his charm this time, the people he did speak too were quite secretive & wary of giving too much information away. I would think that poaching is very much alive & well in all parts of NZ.

The foreign couple in a van staying next door to us walked to the lighthouse and were rewarded with two large paua by one of the divers. They weren’t too sure what to do with them so I gave them some tips & when I next looked out they were beating the hell out of the poor things. Later one of them said to me, we didn’t know when to stop, the centre is still tough! They sliced it thinly & stir-fried it quickly in butter & were quite impressed that it didn’t taste like leather.

At the point we were also rewarded. As the tide dropped away the exposed rocks revealed a bounty of huge green lip mussels which David gathered and we had for dinner cooked using my “world famous in NZ” recipe. We passed some onto the couple to have with their paua; I think they were more impressed with the broth that came with them (garlic, ginger, sweet chilli, lemon zest, spring onions & wine) which they added the paua too as well.

                                                                                                              "Just don't collect any mussels on the left there David"

David found this swarm of flies that were settled in a shady recess in the rock, the weren't your usual flies as you can see from the close up. We wondered what they are doing and why they're doing it there, when we disturbed them they stirred and flew in a big mass only to resettle when we moved back. I need to Google or ask my bug man photographer friend or perhaps some one out there can solve the mystery.... ETA- mystery solved by my Dad, they are Brine Flies, they live most of their life under water hatching out when the water warms in early summer but only lasting a few days as flies, just long enough to mate & lay eggs on the water surface. I guess the saltiness of lake Grassmere is an ideal habitat for them.

There are some beautiful rock formations at the base of the limestone cliffs on the way around the bay.

The tracks are from the quad bikes

We could also see some of the scars from the recent earthquake. On August 16^th this year (it’s now Nov 24th) a magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the region with the epicentre being directly under Lake Grassmere, several severe aftershocks struck during the next few hours. There was major damage in and around Seddon and out here at Marfells Beach where some of the limestone cliffs collapsed. The campground was closed as the only road into it was blocked by slips and cracks opening in the road. The quake was also one of the strongest to hit Wellington city, directly across Cook Strait from here, in recent time & shut the city down for a couple of days. 

The road in the middle was tarseal before the quake & is the last tight bend before reaching the beach & the campground.

And to celebrate this, my 100th blog post I'm going to leave you with some fluffy ducklings that were in the stream beside the Top10 campground back in Blenheim.