Napier

We've been asked a lot about whether we are a bit bored coming back to NZ.  The answer is no - we have adapted very well.  We are now getting excited by planting leeks, building compost bins, and eating our first zucchini from our garden.  Seriously, it is all good fun and I think we have a good balance of home life, family and friends, work and getting out and about.  The philosophy of having 'one blog moment' a week is a good one as it keeps us learning, experimenting and enjoying novel experiences.  The past few weeks have been a bit of a mixed bag concerning weather - it has even snowed in Queenstown (that southerly wind does have a bite to it).  We've sat in the sunshine in the rose garden having a coffee with Jill and Graham, visited Cheryl and Marty in Eketehuna in the aftermath of a fierce windy storm (started sorting out some of Mums special belongings), found a dress for Mike and Becks wedding.

Wellington anniversary weekend saw us cruising up the east coast to Napier.  We left work early afternoon to miss the worst of the traffic and had a good run up, stopped in Dannevirke (where we watched peahens enjoy a sandbath, roosters cosying up to us for a bit of our afternoon tea and we played hide and seek in the trees), had dinner at Hastings (where we admired the art deco buildings - can't wait for art deco weekend) and then arrived in Napier (Jan's place).

In the evening we had a nice walk around the harbour, while catching up with lots of news and the next morning hopped on our bikes to take a trip round the wetlands and along Westshore.  We really enjoyed getting back on bikes, having a picnic lunch in the sunshine and breathing in all that good kiwi fresh air.  We saw some more migratory birds and learnt a bit about the spoon bill which should have been in the wetlands but decided to leave home for the day (isn't that always the case!).  They are quite cute birds (from the pictures) and have bred in NZ since the 1950's.  Here's a photo of the bird we didn't see and some photos of some we did see.


http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/spoonbill.html

Sunday morning Jan suggested we visited the Farmers Market which was set under trees and had a variety of natural produce (rule is has to be grown within 30 kms of the market place).  We bought some chamomile tea flowers (the stall owner said they were Egyptian flowers which is a bit more than 30kms away but I won't tell), some mini tomatoes (red, yellow, black), a black capsicum (turns out to be green inside) and some more plants for our vege garden - horse radish, yam (grows on top of the ground) and a plant called Good King Henry. Also had coffees and iced tea in the sunshine. On return to Wellington we couldn't quite recall what the farmer had told us about 'Good King Henry' so we 'googled it' and found that this lettucy looking thing grows 30 cm tall, can be eaten raw or cooked (raw in moderation as they are highly acidic), and can be used to clean sores, boils and abscesses.  It's also a gentle laxative and is a diuretic. It can be used to heal coughs in sheep and although has iron, vitamin C and minerals best to stay away from it if you have rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity.  Don't think we'll be eating but I had already planted it and needless to say it is thriving!!  This week we've eaten our first green scallopini - its a bit hairy and nothing like those you find in the shops and cos Harry put it in a quiche (there is only one of edible size at the mo) it is a bit hard to tell what it tastes like.  Then it was onto Te Mata Peak where we had lunch looking over the valley at a table sitting in the middle of long grass and no chairs.  We were going for a walk to the Redwood Forest but decided to leave that for another day and drove up to the top of the peak instead.  Wonderful views from the top, and then good views from the winery below which we enjoyed over a glass of wine. It was evening dinner at the local thai place (busy and we could see why) and then on Monday home via Eketehuna.  A great weekend.

Zealandia

It was the birthday girls chance to suggest what we did and so on the last day before work began (and after a couple of days of gardening, cleaning up and going to movies - Tin Tin, We bought a Zoo, Fall of a City (weather was a bit wet and stormy) we decided to go to Zealandia for the day.  On the web it was described as A paradise that took 80 million years to evolve and was almost destroyed in the last few hundred...We had a long walk around the lake and up onto the hills with stops to admire the takahe, saddleback, kakas and tuis.  A good day out - but a tad expensive for the average local to go often.

We also had a little detour to see one of the oldest homesteads in Wellington. A cute little house, where we wandered the garden - but it was closed so we couldn't go in (every time I pass it - it is closed!!). It is the city's oldest building - built in 1858 by William and Catherine Wallis - recently married - what a way to spend a honeymoon - seventeen weeks on a ship with lots of other immigrants. They liked the Nairn Street site (saw before buying which apparently was quite unusual I think) because there was a stream - they'd heard about the earthquake in the Wairarapa three years early which had created tidal waves that swamped Wellington town's water supply causing pollution and the spread of typhoid.

Farewell Spit

I caught the ferry on Saturday morning - wet and windy with the promise of 2 metre swells.  In the back of my mind was the thought that southerlies usually mean a reasonably good trip across the Strait and so with this optimistic thought I wandered onto the  Kaitaki - my first ferry ride in NZ in a number of years. It's a relatively new boat, not crowded (just like coming back) and so plenty of room to put up my feet, snooze and drink cups of tea - they even offered ice to help ease the queasy tums and sick bags (which I didn't need to consider).  Then it was a couple of bus trips with lots of stops to Marahau.  I learnt lots from the drivers who enjoyed chatting about this part of the country ...

• Kiwifruit is now grown on high rise wires rather than horizontal - I guess that utilises space better and also it is easier to pick as the fruit hangs down.
• There is a local controversy over the colour of the bird protection nets as some rather large gardens are covered in red and white which some consider conflicts with the green landscape - I must admit having seen them from the lookout I would tend to agree -  green is more in keeping as long as they don't choose flourescent.
• Blenheim has some burgeoning wetlands - after being taken over by willow many decades ago - it is now a place for indigeneous trees, plants and creepy crawlies to live.  It will take a while but will look great after a few more years.

I met everyone at Marahau after numerous attempts to send them a text to say that I would arrive on time or I could go on to Collingwood.  No cell phone reception anywhere they were.  We travelled windy roads over the Takaka Hill, negotiated slips on the road to Collingwood and Pakawai, had a yummy dinner at the cafe before pitching the tent for the night (in the rain).  Early to bed (and it was New Years Eve). Fireworks a bit too close to the tent, some not very melodious singing, a very thin mattress that slipped on the tent floor - but we slept o.k.  Six o'clock get up call!!

Farewell Spit is on the 'Original 101 Must Dos' for a Kiwi http://www.aatravel.co.nz/101/original-101-must-do-list/page/10/.  I have a feeling I might try and talk Harry into doing more on the top 101 list.  The spit's  original name was Onetahua (meaning 'heaped up sand') which seems a really apt name to describe this 35 kilometres of pure golden sand - it is afterall the longest natural sand bar in the world. Its an important place for seals (lots sitting and flopping across the sand), birds (albatross, godwits, gannets, canadian goose, oyster catcher, seagull) and is now a protected Wetland of International Importance.  And it wasn't just wildlife that have hung out here in the past - once upon a time 3 lighthouse families lived in a dip in the dunes - possibly less exposed than some of the houses on the UK coastline but not much.  Boats bought the food so when the weather wasn't good I guess they pretty much lived on fish and birdlife.

The next photo,  is of the godwit - prouncing around with its royal stance.  These birds are amazing - according to scientists monitoring their migration  habits over the last few years.  There has been some research carried out by some New Zealanders about the flight patterns of these birds.  They fly around the pacific rim virtually non-stop.  Well a couple of stop overs for food and rest.  They've discovered this by attaching satellite-tracking transmitters to some of them.  They travel from Farewell Spit or the Firth of Thames to Alaska via eastern China or Russia, have a few eggs, rear their young and then fly all the way back to NZ.  Little E7 (I think she should have had a bit more of an imaginative name than that) flew from NZ to North Korea (non-stop - approx 10,000 km, for 7 days 13 hours at an average speed of 56.5 kph).  She spent about six weeks refuelling and then flew a further 7,000 or so miles (another 7 or so days) to Alaska - before making the more direct trip back to NZ.

 We wandered around Cape Farewell (most northern spot on the South Island and about same latitude as Foxton), went to a lovely beach around the coast (except no good for swimming) before heading back to the campsite and another meal at the little cafe.  That night bonfires were lit on the beach and we sat talking to the guy who helped us pitch our tent in the rain.

Next morning we packed up the wet tent and headed to Collingwood (originally called Gibbstown but renamed after Nelson's second-in-command at Trafalgar). The town grew during the gold rush of the 1850's and at one stage it could have become the capital of NZ but that didn't happen - the gold ran out. Today, Collingwood is a mixture of old and new. Modern buildings include the general store, hotel and memorial hall, while rather special buildings like the old court house and post office have become cafes and  backpackers - a quaint reminder of the past. We wandered up to the old cemetery - where many of the first settlers arriving in the 1840's are buried. One rather rare sight was a grave stone for Tamati Pirimona Marino - the first Maori grave stone we've seen in an old European cemetery.  So, I read a bit about him...He was the Chief of the Collingwood District Nelson, preferred to keep on the right side of the Europeans although he had been involved with some of Te Rauperaha's conquests in both the North and South Islands. During the goldrush period he fed many hundreds of Maori miners.  There's lots more on the web...

Abel Tasman

After an early start to catch the ferry we were off on our adventure to walk the Abel Tasman track from Totaranui to Marahau. We were supposed to walk from Whariwharangi, with our first night at the Whariwharangi hut, but due to the heavy rain that covered the area before Christmas the track between Totaranui  and Whariwharangi was closed.

This meant a night in the tent at Marahau before setting off a day later than originally planned and started at Totaranui. We got to the start by water taxi, these supply the park with regular services as it is possible to walk just parts of the track as a day walk with drop off and pick up by water taxi.

The first day involved getting to Awaroa where you have to wait till at least 1.5 hours before low tide to be able to cross the inlet. This was a leisurely day as low tide wasn't till  6.00pm. The tidal rise here is about 4 metres so it was with great interest that we arrived a bit early and had to wait before it was safe to cross and so watched as the water drained away!

We did do one thing that made our walking easier and that was to have our big packs taken to each hut each day, by water taxi and therefore only had to carry a day pack with our lunch and clothes essentails.

 The weather up until now had been good, but on the second day it was a bit overcast, although it only rained lightly a couple of times for our walk from Awaroa to Bark Bay. The Bark Bay has a lagoon that is also tidal and we went for a swim in the rain while the tide was still in, later we walked out to the island we had earlier swum out too.

The third day saw the weather take a turn for the worst and it rained all day with it quite persistent at times. When we arrived at Anchorage hut we were absolutely soaked through to the skin with every bit of gear wringing wet. The hut was busy with everybody trying to keep out of the weather by sheltering on the verranda. We at least had dry packs and were able to get into dry gear and try and dry some of our stuff.

On the way we took a detour to Cleopatra's pool, which involves walking along side the Torrent river, however at one point we had to cross the river and it lived up to its name by being a torrent and impassable  so we had to turn round and go back with out seeing the pool. 

The last day and it was still raining but it was only light drizzle but it persisted all day. We finally got back to Marahau where we enjoyed some hot chips and a hot chocolate while we waited for Denise to arrive on the bus from Picton.  The 4 days of walking was very enjoyable and it was great to be walking through lots of native bush, as most of the park was never cleared for farming and it has been left in its natural state. The long golden beaches and bush make for a very enjoyable environment.