Saturday - rain, wind and friends

Saturday started off with wind, followed by rain. We had a cooked breakfast, said goodbye to Jane (our landlady) then set off to drive the coast road round Wellington harbour. 

The wind was incredibly strong, but at least the rain had disappeared and the sun was shining. We made numerous stops round the bay, during which we sorted out our lodgings for the next few nights. Tonight with Steve and Rob, Sunday in a B&B in Hastings then Monday in Napier with Joy and Graham.

Like a lot of NZ, the hills came down right to the waters edge in many places, but this was the first time we had seen personal cable cars and funicular railways to individual homes. Garages were squeezed in at the side of the road, then the house was high up on the hillside with a fabulous view over the harbour.

At several of our stops we saw scuba divers changing in the car park or actually in the water. There's a marine reserve around that section of the harbour, plus several wrecks. Not surprising given the normal windy conditions and the number of rocks just off land.

As we left the water's edge the rain started to drizzle, but then stopped long enough for us to play a round of crazy golf at Carlucci Land. Craziest golf we've ever done, including many rusty art works made out of old mining and farming equipment, and all run on an honesty system. As we finished hole 18 the rain started to get heavier, then, as we were driving north towards Porirua, it came down in torrents.

Mick could barely see the road for the next few kilometres of motorway (yes, a real motorway!) and lots of cars pulled off the road to wait it out. 

At Porirua we stopped at Pataka, an art museum and gallery which Jane had recommended to us. We had lunch in their cafe then wandered around the two main exhibitions. One, "60 Women at 60", was a series of wonderful photos of women in their 60th year of life. Heather and Dianne, you would have loved it!

Our next stop was at Paekakariki at the home of our friends Steve and Rob. They were only just back from Nelson having stayed on for a few days after the end of the TR tour, but generously had invited us, plus Grant and Bev, for a BBQ. It was as though they were old friends and we were very happy to see them all again. A great BBQ, then a peaceful night. Wonderful house with views of the sea, but it was thundery and heavy rain all evening so we will have to wait for tomorrow morning to appreciate it in full.

Friday - Te Papa museum

Jane, our landlady, cooked us breakfast this morning, then we set off for the Te Papa museum. We had heard that a boat trip for one of the other guests had been cancelled for today, but we were still unprepared for the ferocity of the wind as we walked through the city (green) belt to reach downtown. At least today we had remembered our waterproof jackets, and they were very necessary in the wind and rain.

The walk took us through an area used for filming during the Lord of the Rings. Pleasant short walk which ended with a very steep downward section to the water's edge.

The museum was well worth seeing. We got there at 10.15, and didn't leave until nearly 5 pm! We had a guided tour of the Moari significant exhibits at 11am, then wandered from area to area for the rest of the day.

Coming out of the museum we found it was sunny, but the wind was stronger than ever. We walked along the wharf for a while, watching this rescue attempt on a container. Apparently three had fallen (blown?) into the water and this was the last one they had to rescue.

 Despite the wind there was a small number of people jumping into the water - mad!!

We saw a steam powered crane ship, the City-to-Sea bridge and the Civic Square before walking back to our B&B via a bar for an early evening meal.

The rest of the evening has been spent trying to plan the next few days, a task made more difficult by being unable to find how to edit my original spreadsheet on the iPad, nor how to cut and paste the data into a new one.  Finally decided to start a new spreadsheet, but finished that too late to do any more research on things to do and places to stay.

Thursday - across to the North Island

We were up at 6 am this morning so we could be sure of getting to the ferry at 7. A quick breakfast then we were off. It was a lovely still morning, but no dramatic sunrise, despite the fact this was our first time up before the sun, as a mountain was in the way. We said farewell to Picton, then spent the first 45 minutes of the ferry trip negotiating the Queen Charlotte Sound until we reached the open sea.

We were delighted to discover that two more from the TR tour were on board, Nigel and Gloria, so we spent much of the journey talking to them.

We finally arrived at Wellington at 12.15, somewhat late, then had to wait ages before we could drive off the boat. We had planned to drive direct to the B&B, but decided to detour to the parliament buildings for a tour.

We were too late for the one o'clock tour, so reserved places for the 2 pm tour, then went to visit the old parliament bulding, now part of the law school. It is one of the largest buildings in the world completely made of wood, but was painted to look like cream stone. We could only visit a small part of the building but at least saw this magnificent staircase. The whole building has been renovated recently, and areas have been left where we could see the structure of the building.

We then went to visit the current parliament buildings, a set of three connected edifices, one modern, one marble and one in a neo-gothic style. Security was tight and we could take no photos during the tour, but it was very interesting, especially hearing how they had abolished their old 'upper' house, and now have a proportional voting system.

After checking in at our delightful B&B we set off by bus for the cable car up to the botanical gardens. Great cable car, dating from 1902, but now running a more automated system, it was a lovely way to travel up the hill! We managed to visit part of the cable car museum before it closed but were then too late to visit the observatory. We walked through the gardens, back down towards the centre of the city, and then crossed over the motorway which cuts right through the Bolton Street cemetery.

 A lot of Wellington is built on reclaimed land, surrounded by hills.  Back down at the lower level of the  city we walked back through town, enjoying the sight of the trolley buses and all the people.  By now we were very hungry, having missed lunch completely, so we found a pizza restaurant in the middle of the pedestrian area, and enjoyed food and drink whilst watching the world go by.  Then it was back to our lodgings for an early night prior to visiting the Te Papa museum tomorrow.

Wednesday - last day of the TR tour

We left our slightly Bohemien 'half a hut in the woods' this morning for the final day of the NZ TR tour. First stop was the Te Waikoropupu Springs, the largest springs in NZ. We had a quick walk round and marvelled at the amount of water welling up from the 16 vents under the lake, then left following a few TRs along the road back over Takaka Hill.

Along the way Mick stopped to allow me to photograph this old house at the side of the road. We've seen several smaller ruins along the way, but seldom where I can get a good photo.

Going over the hill we spotted a few TRs at the side of the road. Stopping to see if we could help we found that John's car had completely stopped, luckily by a small parking area on a tight bend. A few checks diagnosed a faulty coil, but no one had a spare, and a garage was already on its way to assist. We heard later they'd got started OK, but had then experienced more problems as they went through Motueka. Hopefully they are now back on the road, and on their way home.

We continued on our route, visiting Marahau and Kaiteriteri, finally finishing at The Jesters for our final lunch of the tour. Good food, and we were amazed to see their tame eels accepting food (minced meat) from wooden sticks in the small stream by the side of the restaurant. It was with much regret that we said goodbye to our new friends, but now have several invites to call, have a meal and stay with several of them while we are touring the North Island, so more of an au revoir than goodbye.

We drove on, via Nelson and the outskirts of Blenheim, to Picton where we catch the ferry tomorrow to cross the  Cook Straits to Wellington on the North Island. We managed to get to Picton 30 minutes before the Edwin Fox museum closed, and went to have a very quick look at this 1853 boat which was salvaged from the sands in Queen Charlotte Sound in the 1980s. It has been around the world 34 times, taken troops to the Crimean War, convicts to Australia, immigrants to NZ, freight to China and elsewhere and finally acted as a frozen meat transporter. It's amazing complete, and you can clearly see the double plank construction and the copper covering on the ship bottom.

 We've now settled into our hotel for the night, and this is the view from our balcony!  Nibbles and drinks on the terrace while I write the blog and Mick does the washing.  When everything is dry we shall go and find food.  Tomorrow we have to be up early - we need to check in for our ferry at 7 am.

Tuesday - beach walk and The Mussel Inn

Up fairly late this morning as we knew we were not meeting up with any one from the TR group until the evening. After consulting our Frenzy Guide (interestingly this entire area is not mentioned in the Rough Guide) we decided to drive up Dry Road around the Whanganui Inlet. We checked the times for the tides as we knew we needed to start our preferred walk sometime after high tide, but had to be able to finish it well before the tides rose again. Luckily the times were perfect, so we set off to drive the 6 kms of sealed road, then the 34 kms of dirt track to our destination.

The road wound round Whanganui Inlet with beautiful views at every turn. There were frequent causeways at each little side bay, and occasional climbs through the bush. Towards the end of the drive the scenery opened up and became flat farming land, surrounded by high bluffs.

We stopped briefly at Knuckle Hill view point, but only at the car park. To actually walk to the lookout would have taken 3 hours round trip.

Eventually we reached Paturau Beach and set off on our walk. We turned south on the beach, and the first rock formations we came to looked like brains! Very strange rocks indeed.

Further on we came to long stretches of sand, then rocky headlands where we had to wait for the tide to go further out before we could run round the corner avoiding the waves.

We came across arches in the rock, and numerous rock pools. After walking for an hour we had our lunch in the shade of a huge cliff, seated on a log.

We walked on for another 30 minutes, then turned round for the walk back. By the now the tide was further out so we could explore more of the rocks, and see some of the very flat rock formations which had been invisible before.

It was a very hot and sticky walk, and we only found two sections with shade on the entire walk. But we did see some amazing rocks and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Back at the car we gratefully switched on the air conditioning, and drove back to our delightful lodgings.

In the evening we had tables booked at the Mussel Inn, a local restaurant several kms outside of Collingwood. We gave Frank and Ann a lift while most of the others arrived on the Eco Tours Bus. We had a lovely meal, with good beer, and wine, and lots of fun conversations.  It was only on the way home that I realised Ann was the quilter I had been planning to talk to at the weekend meeting, but failed to do so. We had a few minutes of chat, but will have to continue the conversation over lunch tomorrow.

Monday - history and bendy roads

Today started with a gathering at 8.45 am for a drive back to the north side of Nelson for a visit to the Founders Heritage Park. This is a wonderful place, a bit like Blists Hill in the UK, where there is a gathering of old buildings from the area. Laid out on streets in the park, the buldings have mainly been moved from their original sites in Nelson and either housed collections of items to do with that building, or were artists studios. Sadly it was Monday, and the park had opened especially early for us, so very few of the artists were in residence.

There was a bakers, a newspaper printer, a cobblers, etc. plus an old aircraft and lots of information about the port of Nelson. There was also a brewery on site, but no one seemed to be sampling their wares. 

After 2 hours there we moved on and drove through the Moutere Valley to our lunch reservation. Much hilarity was had when we got lost, then were rescued by Steve and Rob, who then promptly got lost themselves. It was not helped by us flashing them with the windscreen washer, and indicating turns with the windscreen wipers!

Lunch was at the Riverside Cafe (and community), a lovely spot close to Lower Moutere. There was a cactus garden, a bonsai garden, an interesting menu and a working artist and gallery next door.

Mick and Rob swopped passenger places for the afternoon, so I and Rob drove nice and steadily over Takaka Hill (a steep climb and descent with lots of hills and bends, the descent reminded me of Monaco but much bigger) while Steve and Mick were free to drive much faster in Steve's TR250.

We stopped at the lookout at the top of the hill, then carried on down into Takaka. After ice creams, wondering around the town, and getting a bit of shopping, we returned to our usual cars and carried on into Collingwood. Tonight we are going to eat in the Collingwood Tavern, next door to where most people are staying. As we booked very late we are in an apartment at the Innlet Hostel a few kms further north, but shall drive in to join them all tonight.

Sunday - wineries and pizza

This morning we were up fairly early to pack the car prior to leaving Blenheim. Then it was time for our morning briefing about the route at 9.30 am. Everything prepared, we left on the tour: first stop was Monkey Bay where we had a small walk down to a tiny hidden cove.

After driving round more vast areas of vines we visited Spy Valley. Actually the name of a vineyard, but also the road leading to a ministry of defence site where two huge receivers sat, presumably listening to the world!

Lunch was at the Drylands Winery: an excellent buffet with the chance to try several of their own wines. Then it was time for the final presentations by Frank. This was also when Mick and I took the opportunity to present the three TR t-shirts we had brought with us, and to give a t-shirt to Robert to thank him for all his help and hospitality. He got a 'Ay up me duck' shirt, and Stella got a book explaining East Midlands sayings and dialect so she could translate.

Lots of good byes to many new friends, plus an exchange of addresses and promises, then we set off on the tour. Back through the hills to Havelock, then over another hill, along a very windy road, back to Nelson.

We are staying at a small motel, a few hundred meters from the main group (we had booked our accommodation very late!) very close to Tahunanui beach. After sorting ourselves out we wandered down to meet the rest, and ended up sharing beer with Grant and Bev and Steve and Rob before eventually going to a local pizza restaurant where we had one of the best pizzas ever; marinated lamb, sun dried tomatoes, olives and mint flavoured yoghurt on a thin base cooked in a wood fired oven - yum!!