Christmas in Sunny Nelson

                                 

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We are house & cat sitting in Nelson thanks kindly to Fran (hope you enjoy Hanmer).
Hope everyone enjoys a relaxing time with family and friends.
Shannon, being the only one of our children to join us with the other two celebrating Christmas in Perth, will be spoilt rotten and over indulged.

Shannon with her Daddy looking out over "The Cut"

Shannon & Bill at the top of Trafalgar St
The street is looking very leafy at this time of year.

On Shannon's early arrival into Nelson a couple of days before Christmas, we picked her up (driving through the chaotic road works as Nelson's airport is having a major overhaul) and headed into Nelson's famous Market. The Christmas Market I feel is the best market of the year with lots of variety and a relaxed atmosphere. Well it was for us! With no pressure to rush anywhere, we browsed around the stalls, and then had a coffee on the Cathedral steps.
Looking down on Trafalgar St from here, you can see how mature the trees are now that were planted in our early days of arriving in Nelson in the late 80's. How plain the main street was in those days.

Christmas Day - Rabbit Island

Christmas day was spent out at Rabbit Island - a beach for those of you who don't know it, where we use to go a lot when the children were young as it was a lovely safe beach for the kids to play and swim in. We took Bill's mum Joan with us in the Bus and met up with Bill's brother Alan & Eare and their son Mathew. It was a very quiet Tyler affair, no arguments or robust discussions like the Nicholas's (my family) would have. But a very pleasant day till late afternoon when the wind came up creating sand storms. So we all headed back to Frans for a bbq dinner - Lucky was happy to see us return.            

Boxing Day was spent at Pippa & Johns where Simon & Nicki joined us for lunch with their girls too. Pippa offered her place to meet as the weather looked unpredictable but as it turned out we could have met at a beach. It turned out sooooo hot and sunny that it was good to have the shade. And the young Girls certainly enjoyed their time in the pool. Thanks P&J for a lovely day. And Simon & Nicki, lovely to see you get some time off over what is one of your busiest times of year- it was lovely to share the day with you all.

Hot enough to cool off in the pool
(well the little ones thought so with Johnny - Simon supervising)

Lucky waiting on his dinner

As we had Fran's bike available for Shannon to borrow, we did a cycle on The Great Taste Trail - Nelson / Tasman cycleway. We had a perfect day and the trail wasn't too busy. We were ready for a nice cold ale on our arrival at Brightwater where we also had lunch before returning to Richmond. A very pleasant 31km cycle, although Shannon did say the next day it had been a while since she had been on a bike so parts of her anatomy were a little tender. Poor Shanny :(

Which direction is the right one!

Half way!!

Very refreshing ale at HQ

With Christmas bringing lots of families back to Nelson, it was good catching up with friends at the Market and at their homes. It had been a few years since we had caught up with some of our friends children, so it was lovely catching up on their lives too.

Shannon's time with us went too quickly and before we knew it, it was time for her to return to AC in Wellington where they were to attend a wedding the next day with an old school friend of Shannon's, Darko.

Rocky and Daniel went away camping south of Perth over the Christmas break, which was quite a different one for them but very relaxing after their busy year. And Nick & Emily celebrated with Em's family - his first real Aussie Christmas. Hopefully they missed us a little bit even if they did have fun!

So Christmas was over for another year. They seem to get quicker each year, but the best part is they are certainly less stressed. Well for us at least - or should that be for me! Bill's have always been relaxed! 

Golden Bay (3rd to 19th Dec)

Bill relaxing after a walk over the hill to Ligar Bay

We left Nelson on the 3rd with the car set up for towing -the unit worked well up and over Takaka Hill without any issues.
Arriving at Tarakohe Sunday night, the NZMCA camp was quite busy. It was a beautiful evening with reflection of full moon onto the harbour, only the slightest ripple on the water.

Full moon over Port Tarakohe

Port Tarakohe on sunset

Our first day was just relaxing - reading and sorting things in Bus. Bill fitted a shackle to the back of the Bus so the A frame can be carried on the back when not towing the car as we will occasionally travel (like most of the time while we are over here in Golden Bay).
I had my first swim of the season when we walked from the Port over the hill to Ligar Bay, a 5km return walk via the Able Tasman Memorial / Lookout. The weather has been so settled, no wind, makes it very pleasant and surprisingly not cooling off in the evenings.
With such settled weather it was ideal conditions to do a paddle in our loaned kayak (thank you Diana) from Tata Beach across to Taupo Pa (an historic Pa site from early 1800's) and back around Wainui Inlet.  had a late lunch and a swim at a little beach before the return to Tata Beach and back to Port Tarakohe.

Lovely spot for lunch and swim

We are only allowed 3 nights at Port Tarakohe as part of the resource consent for this NZMCA site, so we had to move on. We decided to head off and park up under the Takaka Bridge along with a dozen other Camper cars and one other bus. Bit of a neglected area TDC have allocated for Freedom Camping for CSC (Certified Self Contained) vehicles. But with no one following up that only CSC vehicles are there, many were not. With a toilet onsite, there was no evidence of people abusing the area and no rubbish which was good to see. Vehicles coming in late evening and away early in the morning to make the most of the days.

The drive out of the Cobb Dam

Bill had been keen to have a look at the Doc Camp up at the Cobb Dam as an option sometime to take the Bus up the back of the Takaka area - a hydro scheme that was built in the 1940's providing power to the network which the government of the time thought was required to meet the need of the country.

Bill thinks it's warm enough
for a dip in the Takaka River

It was a very windy 38.5km road only half sealed to the Power Station at the bottom and very dusty gravel road up to the Dam.   We only took the Suzuki in and even at times that felt too wide for the road with the many outcrop of rocks! Unbelievable the big vehicles that must have come in here to build the power station and dam.

Barge at Port Tarakohe being
loaded with local rock for
Wellington's Transmission Gully

The dam was quite low and didn't appeal for a paddle or swim. The sandflies forced a short lunch break, then drove down to the bottom of the lake where the Doc camp was. Lovely scenic location providing a hut for many of the walks that commence from here.
Friday after stocking up for the weekend at Takaka's only supermarket, we headed on to Golden Bay Holiday Park ( Tukarua Beach - half way between Takaka and Collingwood). A lovely small camp where our children had their camping holidays as they grew up for 20 odd years. It was a lovely low key basic camp, and although there are a few additions (a couple of motel units and a self contained cabin) the camp looked very much like it always had.

Bill supervising the erection of the "new" tent

Dam construction - serious business!

Met up with nephew Simon and Nicki and their girls Lily (6yr) and Daisy (2yr) first time camping in their new tent (apparently a mansion after the their last one which was pre family days) and friends Pippa & John and daughter Annabell (2yr - and friends with Daisy) in their caravan also called Daisy.
It was almost a perfect weekend weather wise. Plenty of dam building and swimming with the Stingrays - bit of a panic (just as much for the Stingrays as myself), so there was lots to keep people busy but also allow plenty of time to relax too.  With a small playground nearby there was plenty to keep the Girls entertained - and the big Boys!
It was lovely seeing the next generation enjoy this little gem of a campground - although it is back on the market at $3.875 mil - hope it doesn't sell to any developer soon with it's beautiful little beach.
With the departure of the two families, Bill & I returned to Port Tarakohe and had dinner at the Boat Club. Next day we headed over the hill to Totoranui Doc Camp (Doc's #1 South Island Camp).
As it's a very windy gravel road, we decided to take the two vehicles over separately. There are still signs of the damage heavy rains did back in 2011, which isolated the camp for over 6 months before they could reinstate the road for campers to use once again.

Nigel No Mates in our camp field  at Totoranui

Colours are amazing in this part of the Able Tasman Park with the green clear waters and golden sands - perfect for a swim once we got settled at our camp site. This camp gets heavily used over the 6 week period of the summer school holidays - people are balloted to be selected for a camp site. We will move out just before schools break up for the summer and return to Nelson in time for Christmas.

Lovely Anapi Beach

We only managed the one kayak trip near the end of the week due to the wind coming up each day. The day we did paddle around to Araroha appeared perfect at first and there was enough tide for us to get in and nosey around the inlet. But when it came time to do the return trip, the wind had unfortunately come up and made it quite a choppy paddle back. Not fun!

Time for more repairs (leak in window)

Fresh baked bread - inverter working well with all this sun

Looking down onto Totoranui Beach and the Camp

We did manage a walk each day, enjoying the lovely bush scenery and lovely coast line. There weren't too many people or campers around yet, probably half the walkers would be foreigners.
Friends Vicki & Trevor came over for the weekend from Nelson, along with a friend of Vicki's - Kathryn.

Vicki's new bunks

To keep it simple for them to come over, we had put up our awning so they didn't need to put their tent up. Well! I had given Vicki the dimensions so she knew not to bring over their large air bed. But thought the stretchers would. Hmmmmmm not little stretchers are they Vicky! But you got them to fit and luckily not by making a bunk set with them!

Bill trying not to get his shoes wet on our walk to Anapai
at low tide

The end of the beach is a perfect spot for swimming

We had another relaxing weekend, with walks and swims and even fresh mussels from our walk over to Anapai. Delicious. It was just like our old days of camping but without the pressures of teenagers.
Bill & I had been fortunate to catch up with fellow campers and enjoy fresh crayfish and nibbles with Bill & Janette and friends Brian and Robyn. Yummy. I had actually worked with Bill back in the days of Johnson's Logging nearly 20 years ago so it was good to catch up on their lives and hear about  their childhoods on the West Coast where all four of them grew up.
We had one more night at Port Tarakohe before returning to Nelson Christmas week - how quiet it was now assuming people had headed off already to join family and friends for Christmas.
Pohara, just around in the next bay, was all go on the Monday night with big celebrations - 350yrs since the Dutch discovered this area, so we went for a walk to find something for dinner. On our way Drew, a friend of Rochelle's from Perth but in Golden Bay for Christmas with his wife Jana and wee girl Addie, passed by but quickly stopped and reversed back to us. Amazing timing for us to pass each other, let alone Drew recognising us after only meeting twice over in Perth. So the next morning we visited them in their home they are renting out while returning to Perth to make money they can't currently make in Golden Bay. Another couple of years they hope to be settled back here in some form of tourism capacity. It was lovely catching up with this couple who were so kind to Rochelle in her early years in Perth.

Jana, Addie, Bill & I with the puppy.

Central Otago to Nelson (14th to 19th Nov)

45th Parallel lookout over Lowburn back to Cromwell
on Lake Dunstan

Leaving Queenstown mid November we took a week to return to Nelson. Driving separately once again as Bill wanted to check the handling of the Bus with it's new tyres without towing the car. The handling had changed with our new tyres - and without towing it was much better. So a follow up email to Super Tyres came back with recommendation to increase pressure in the rear tyres.

Campsite on Lake Dunstan

A well earned cold beer!

Pisa Moorings with the Alps in the background

We had this done in Cromwell and continued onto Christchurch once again towing our car. Certainly an improvement. Bill has since found through discussions the change was quite normal and it takes time for the new tyres to round in. Our old tyres were easy to travel on but just blow out through age! Not much choice really!!

Spot Bill

The weather continued to impress and remind us of summers of old. Bill even managed a quick dip in Lake Dunstan where we had a couple of nights. The turquoise colour of the lakes is beautiful but still cold in these southern climes.:-)

A Cromwell walking pamphlet had a mixture of walks in the area - one being short but steep just over the road from where were staying in Lowburn - The 45th Parallel.

This was up the back of the hills up a hidden gully through early gold workings. Very desolate land except for the vibrant yellow flowers covering the hillside. On the crest of the Terraces were wonderful views out over the Cromwell Basin.  Crossing the 45th Parallel it was then down 501 steps and back to camp. This walk took just over an hour, so would recommend it to anyone passing through.

Some of the 501 steps coming down from the 45th Parallel

 From up at the 45th Parallel crossing we looked down onto a small settlement further along the lake edge, so we jumped on our bikes and rode the trail to this settlement looking for a Store that hopefully had mushrooms. (Need mushrooms for my pasta dish of course). Unfortunately this little settlement was  an upmarket village, Pisa Moorings, with the only cafe being The Heritage Moorings which didn't look like we could even afford a coffee let alone buy any mushrooms!  So it was back to camp where Bill drove back to Cromwell for supplies of cold beer and mushrooms. It was after this fabulous     ( no proof it wasn't!!) meal that Bill went for his dip. Yes we were hot. Yes it was a hot day. But no the water was not.

A wander through Burke's Pass Village
A quirky stop on the main road 20k from Tekapo.

We had planned to move on to Lake Tekapo but with such a beautiful setting, decided to stay on another day. Moving on the next day we stayed once more at the NZMCA spot amongst the trees on the lake side. The weather also stunning here. Such a settled spell over the country so early in the season boding well for a long hot summer. Sadly for the gardeners and farmers

Calling into Christchurch for a nice Red with H&R for the night and checking that  Murray the cat wasn't missing us too much, we continued on toward Nelson stopping half way through just out of Springs Junction at Marble Hill Doc Camp. Right on top of the Alpine Fault Line! We had another lovely evening and surprisingly warm considering we were in an alpine area. Thankfully the land stayed still through the night! (though Bill did express some disappointment??)

The start of the St James Walkway

We had expected the traffic to be reasonably heavy as it was the end of Christchurch's long weekend and all the road works still continuing along this route which has been the only route into Christchurch from the north since Kaikoura's earthquake one year ago. But it was very quiet all the way through.

Fire hearth and night store removed and walls painted.
Only changed the lights in the kitchen - kept the Retro Look

Bill's mum, Joan, had ended up in hospital over the weekend but nothing other than her new cell phone seems to phase Joan and she recovered well so we picked her up Monday and took her home. Trudy (Bill's sister in law) has been wonderful support for Joan with her various issues she has had since we left Nelson 3 years ago. It was good we could help for a change.

We returned to Nelson as in Rochelle's words "they are floating around somewhere and can return to Nelson and renovate my rental between tenants" . Her tenant of 8 years was moving on, so we took the 11 days between Tenants to paint throughout to freshen the rooms and do a few minor maintenance issues. This was all possible as we parked onsite, thankfully there was room for a Bus. Unfortunately we were unable to get the new carpet laid before leaving but it will be done by the end of the following week which will complete the makeover. Hope the new tenants look after what is a lovely wee unit, very handy to central Richmond. It was full on with the renovation and the two weeks flew by.Very little play time and not a lot catching up was had, but we will be in Nelson for Xmas and most of January with time enough to see every one.

Now it is time to head off to Golden Bay for some R&R before Christmas which Bill was promised as a carrot to do this job. Boy Rocky you owe your parents big time now!

Our friend Diana generously let us borrow her double kayak for the fortnight and with that big high sitting over the country are looking forward to some down time "over the hill"

Paddling down with the current toward Mapua Wharf

We dropped into Tasman with the Tristams on Saturday night for a catch up and a Sunday paddle on the Waimea Estuary with the Nelson Kayakers. Not having been on the water as such for a couple of years it was a lovely way to re introduce ourselves to the natural beauties of our peaceful waterways and catch up with some old and new paddlers. A quick visit to Hop Federation for a real fruit ice cream before heading over the hill to catch a sunset at Port Tarakohe.