DAY 13
After our Cook Straight crossing we took a lovely (but crazy hot) bus ride to meet our family in Nelson. After a rental car fiasco and a lost day waiting in the hotel, we hit the road running. We spent an afternoon at Tahunanui Beach where there was an art fair.
#summer
#lanceandnotbrian
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| I chickened out the first time. |
DAY 14
Nelson is located close to Abel Tasman National Park, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. Unfortunately we had two rainy days in a row in 'sunny Nelson' and we had to decide between a boat ride up the coast in rain or a bike ride through vineyards in rain. We went with the boat ride because we decided we'd rather do the bike ride in the sunny weather that was supposed to arrive on our last full day.
In New Zealand it is a common sight to see tractors putting boats in and out of the water. We've been collecting labels from one of our favorite beer breweries out here because they have such pretty labels and feature some traditional New Zealand beach scenes (like the tractor). We're going to try and frame them when we get home.
We used the Abel Tasman Aqua Taxi to take us on a boat tour up the coast and drop us off at one of the many beaches along the way. Then we hiked back along a section of the Abel Tasman Great Walk and they picked us up further down the way.
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| James was spectacularly adorable in his over-sized life jacket. |
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| Split Apple Rock |
Unfortunately since it was rainy and foggy we weren't able to see past the first row of hills further into the national park, but just the beaches were impressive enough. The beaches were so desolate and romantic feeling in the dreary weather. The only way to access many of these beaches is by boat or a several day hike, so people were few and far between.
The sea was actually pretty rough on our little boat and poor James was getting jiggled all over the place. I was starting to worry for his brain! So when we stopped at Onetahuti Beach to drop off some hikers, we also dropped off my parents and James. They hung out and explored the beach while we finished the boat tour up and back, then picked them up on the way to the hike drop-off point. At the very tip of the boat ride, Totaranui, we dropped off a trail runner. He PASSED US like an hour into our hike starting at Bark Bay. If you look at the map above, that's impressive. I could have done it but I didn't want the rest of my family feeling left out...
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| Falls River Suspension Bridge (glad this didn't happen) |
It was supposed to be a 3.5 hour hike and they gave us 4 hours to get to the other side. Let me tell you we HAULED it. We practically ran the last hour because we:
a) stopped to take pictures like any normal person on this journey.
b) stopped briefly to eat lunch.
c) missed the high tide cut off by about 30 minutes to cut across the beach and save an extra 45 minutes of hiking.
d) ran through the 20 minute (or in our case 5 minute) detour to see Cleopatra's Pools.
Even with running, our boat was pulling away as we ran up and we had to ask them to come back for us. Lance sprinted across the beach with James on his back and reached them first. It's a good thing he reached them first because James is pretty cute and convincing. I wasn't going to sweet talk anyone on my end, what with the sweating and wheezing and exercise-induced madness in my eyes.
DAY 15
We finally had a sunny day and we decided to bike the recently completed Great Taste Trail through the region. We rented bikes from the Mapua Wharf and biked a short segment of the trail.
Nelson and the neighboring region of Marlborough are known for their wine, specifically white. If you pick up a New Zealand wine in the States chances are it's either from Marlborough or Hawke's Bay (post of our weekend trip there in Feb is coming up). You can bike the Great Taste Trail from vineyard to vineyard, tasting along the way. Since we were there around the holidays many of the vineyards were closed (NZ is basically the opposite of the USA- everything closes over the holidays instead of them being crazy busy) but we got to one. But before we got to the good stuff we had to bike up a BIG hill. The picture doesn't do it justice. Needless to say the Jespersen family members got off halfway up and walked the rest of the way (Lance made it up the hill with James hitching the easy way to the top).
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| The view from the top was spectacular. |
My parents really loved the wine from Kina Cliffs. They are just a small local place but their building and view were beautiful. They were actually closed and just having wine with friends, but when my dad biked up they just waved him in and said we could join the fun. They were rewarded when my parents ordered a crate shipped to the States, so everybody was a winner. Otherwise our 'great taste' would have been a bust. We did stop at some of the local art galleries, though. Nelson is a big art region as well. Lance, Ian, and my dad LOVED the art stops.
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| 17.5 miles for all you Imperial system users |
We flew out in the afternoon back to Auckland, so in the morning we just went to the Nelson gardens and walked around downtown. It was hard to say goodbye to my family after what felt like such a short visit, but I think we made the most out of their time here. So many of our friends here have family visit for a month or two at a time (those Europeans and their massive amounts of vacation days!) so whenever I told someone my family was visiting for two weeks people always said, "That's it?!" Yep, that's it. And a busy 2 weeks it was! Thank you so much to my family for making the long haul to New Zealand. I know it is an exhausting trip and not cheap and we appreciate the effort you made to visit. I think we made it worth it! Love you all!
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| James having a 'fluffy' for breakfast. Kids here have fluffies when their parents go to cafes. It's just frothed milk with cinnamon or something on top. |
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| Dad, Mom, Ian, and James at the airport |
Loved rereading about our adventures in NZ. So beautiful and fun. Something different every day. James was soooo cute and I wouldn't trade that 30 hour (x2) flight time for a million dollars.
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