Nydia Track

 

South island trip

 We were going to the Omaka airshow but it was cancelled - what to do with that ferry ticket and accommodation.  We decided to have a Easter holiday instead in Marlborough.  Bikes tied to the car off we went.  First a trip to Kaikora - mainly to see the road rebuilt from the 2016 earthquake. An amazing road, built quickly and a home that the seals can be proud of.

When I googled "what do do in Blenheim" wine tasting was top of the list. Actually it probably featured 5 out the top 10. Then I found a visit to Lake Chalice. So off we went one sunny morning. 22 kms along a gravel road more suited to 4wd than a little Honda Jazz. But Harry didn't give up although later he said it was the roughest road he had ever been on. Google said it was about an hours walk to the lake and slightly longer coming back. I read that as a slight gradient. Wrong. Steep downhill all the way 500 meters over 2.6 kms (19% gradient we worked out after the event). How could we be so wrong?  Should we go on? Of course. The toadstools kept us going. Really you ask? We arrived. No lake. Just a very dry stony bed, but around the corner was some water. Sadly one of Aotearoa's example of global warming. 4 to 5 meters below what it used to be. Lunch on the stones, attack by bumblebees (Harry was wearing blue) and back up the hill. We made it - would loved to have had "map my ride on" but no signal in the Richmond Forest Park. 

We had a few rides around Blenheim and found some nice tracks along the Taylor river - and a long screw found Harry's tire.  Puncture repair kit included a pump that decided not to work so we had a short walk to the nearest petrol station and a visit to Torpedo the next day. On our way to Motueka we stopped at Havelock. Harry wanted to walk the path of the hippo. You know the one "when a hippo came to Havelock no one quite new what to do..." We visited the town hall, walked the promenade and stopped by the memorial.

Motueka is next on our journey. Fun bike rides along the water front in the evening and the next day we headed off to Rabbit Island.  2 minute (no exaggeration) boat ride and off we rode. Across gravel, pine needles, large stones, sand, mud and past more amazing toad stools.  And then onto the beach - 4 hours of great riding through pine trees and around the estuary and of course some food stops along the way.

And it is Wednesday already. Another warm sunny day - Mum would have called it an Indian summer. Today we walked part of the Abel Tasman track. A four hour meander from Anchorage Bay to Marehau.  Idyllic scenery - golden sands, wekas, oyster catchers and the deep blue ocean.

And then it was kayak day with R & R Kayaks.  Great day, sunny weather, blue skies and crystal clear water. Surprisingly we saw some wekas and shags but very few other birds and only a few schools of fish, a few seals and starfish. We saw lots of Salp though which I had never seen before. It washed up on the shores and looked like glistening snail trails.