We discovered the Nelson BMX track a little while back (if your reading this Jake you would love it - I'll post more pics soon.) so thought we would take Buster down for a spin. It's in a typically beautiful setting next to Tahunanui Beach and is made from a lovely golden kind of dirt. Anyway, Buster loved it so much he couldn't even be bothered to get off his bike for a wee! We have been back twice since and can see it becoming a regular haunt, especially once my bike gets here. Buster cant race until he is 4 so I have exactly 12months to train him up...
Just returned from a rather pleasant morning out at Cable Bay (its about 20mins from Nelson towards Picton). On the way we passed the ‘worlds longest flying fox’, which takes 15mins to fly you down from the local mountains. You sit, suspended in a chair for 4 people, and fly down about 1000m at subsonic speed. This time round we opted for a cup of tea and some cake instead but next time – oh yes. Just past the flying fox place was Cable Bay (photos here) – the water was crystal clear and there were a few people flying around on Kayaks and snorkelling. I ventured into the water but, to be honest, it was a bit chilly despite my excessive blubber – in the summer though its supposed to be about 23 degrees though so we’ll look forward to that. Anyway – Cable Bay is a kind of gateway to the Sounds so as soon as we hook a boat up we will be venturing further round the coast to see what they have to offer. You can camp anywhere you like over here, and light fires, and there are supposed to be tones of amazing little islands with seals and dolphins a-plenty so that should make for some fun weekends.
Just thought our male readers would appreciate this. In our garage is a green, 5 speed, sit on lawnmower called ‘The Viking’ (see picture here). Buster and I could no longer resist the temptation to fire the beast up so today, under the thin veil of ‘the lawns need cutting’, she was removed from the shelter of her home for some testing. Suffice to say we explored its full capabilities up and down the drive before putting it to the task of cutting some lawn. Unfortunately our Lewis Hamiltonesq hammerings left the old machine rather, erm, tired, and it decided to konk out mid way through the back lawn. A rather hasty Les Mans push back to the garage ensued just in case the owner passed by! If anyone asks you know nothing, right!
Went for a quick drive up the coast towards the Abel Tasman park the other day. On the map it looked like a straightforward drive up over ‘Takaka hill’. Dropping down deep inside the national park. Well, as we are finding out, things in NZ seem to generally be super sized. Takaka hill turned out to be more like Alp Duez, 30mins of hairpin bends and steep gradients. The view from the top (click here) was beautiful, well worth the drive, but it was not what I would have called a hill. Dropping down the other side we finally got to the town of Takaka where we refreshed ourselves (it was another 28 degree day) before heading back towards Tasman. On the way back up we saw a group of kids and their dad bombing down the mountain on their bikes. I was pretty amazed thinking these little nippers had ridden all the way up until we saw their mum driving down the hill behind them in a people carrier with a huge bike rack. Just need to think of a way to bribe Lisa to do the same for Buster and me one day….
In addition to Lisas update I have just thought of a few extras you might want to know (or not).
House - we now have a semi-permanent home in NZ. I'll update the address on the 'contact us' bit of this site once I have the postcode etc but I have loaded some pics onto Flickr if you fancy a gander. Plenty of room for guests (come on, its only a 30hr flight!) and tonnes of room for us to rattle round in. Beach is just over the road, a nice village called Motueka is 10mins away, Nelson is 30mins and our local hamlet is called Mapua - all very nice. The dude we are renting off mentioned he goes diving for scallops at the weekend and always comes home with a bag full so, as you can guess, I am sucking up to him something rotten at the mo.
Internet - still doing these excuses for an update from a local internet cafe as no access at home but hopefully we can sort that this week. Sorry for no personal e-mail to you guys yet that I have been promising for weeks (Steve, John, Matt, Jake, Kev, Mum & Dad etc etc) - bear with me and we'll be in touch asap. When we do I'll get Skype all set up so we can have a good natter.
Pictures - all recent pics are on Flickr. Go to the 'photo' section of the site and click on the link. Couldn't be easier.
Thanks again for all the little comments/messages, take care and speak to you soon xx
P dog
Before we came out here I had a wish list in my head of all the things I wanted from our new life. Here it is:-
Dramatic scenery - Check (in spades). Everywhere you look there are mountains, rivers, sea, muchos trees and greenery.
Beaches - There are loads in and around Nelson. The best are the nature reserve beaches which have BBQ’s, picnic sites, trees and grassy bits as well as sandy and safe beaches. The schools use them for nature trips which the kids obviously love.
Sun - We’ve had a fair amount. It rained the first day and there have been a few rotten days but mostly it’s been warm and sunny. Apparently it stopped raining about October and it’s been pretty hot ever since. Nelson is surrounded by hills which prevents most of the worst weather reaching it. Occasionally the wind brings rain in from the sea which is dumped on the area in one hit and then it’s sunny again for ages. It’s autumn now and it was 26 degrees yesterday and 22 today (it’s a hard life!).
A Job - Well ideally I wouldn’t have to work again but needs must! Anyway I’ve spoken to the manager from the local Child Protection Team who said she’s ‘very keen’ for me to work for them. I’ve got an interview next week so fingers crossed. The only fly in the ointment is the recruitment agencies fee which they don’t / can’t pay. I’ve left it up to them and the agency to negotiate. It’s possible it may stop me getting the job but hopefully not.
Friends - So far we’ve met lots of lovely people on the way down. As a nation they are so laid back and the kids seem really pleasant and friendly. Buster misses nursery so has loved playing with other kids whenever he gets the opportunity. We met a couple who have 2 lively boys and who have also just moved to the area from the North Island. We’ve swapped numbers and hopefully we’ll stay in touch. At least Buster has a couple of little friends to celebrate his Birthday! Obviously I miss all my old friends more than I can say and hope that in the next week or so we’ll have a proper internet connection so we can stay in touch better.
So so far so good! I’ll let you all know about my job situation as soon as I’ve had my interview. Take care, Over and out!
Wow - seems like a few of you are actually reading these ramblings so here is another dose of drivel for you to muse over.
Its a bit late so excuse me if I repeat myself but last time I wrote I think we had got to Rotarua and the luge/bubbling mud. I wish we had lingered a little longer there as the volcanic activity was pretty wild to see. But, we didn't (what a surprise!) but we will definitely be back for a holiday some time.
From Rottenrua (as the locals call it thanks to the smell) we headed down through Taupo (lovely lake area, very pretty even at speed) and eventually ended up just North of Palmerston North in a place by the coast called Levin. I've uploaded some pics of us on the beach here to Flickr. All the coast on the West of NZ is pretty wild, big wide beaches, wind. We stayed here for a couple of days as Lisa had an interview with the recruitment agents and we were a bit sick of traveling. The interview went well and we re-charged our batteries with a couple of wild walks and lots of coffee and cake. I had a chat to some local kids and ended up sucking the seeds out of some weed that grew on the sand dunes with them (the whole family were out picking the stuff for preserving and spreading on toast apparently but it just tasted of salty sea water and pips - not the free delicacy I was hoping to have discovered). Lisa's interview went great and we had a date of 6 March for her first real interview in Nelson with her perspective new boss - so it was back into the car and South towards Wellington and the ferry.
We stopped just North of Wellington the next night in Upper Hut - very nice and some good weather to enjoy but other than that pretty uneventful place (though I heard there was some pretty wild mountain biking to be had in the vicinity - shame my bike is on a boat somewhere in the boot of our car - that wont arrive for another 4 weeks). From there it was into Wellington (the smallest capital I have ever been too - it was tiny but very nice) and onto the ferry and through the Cook Straits to Picton. The ferry ride took about 3hrs and was pretty uneventful apart from trying to keep Buster from falling overboard (which he came close to doing at least 5 times!) and the lovely scenery that we seemed to skirt past with very little room to spare. Got to Picton then decided not to take the 'Tourist Route' but head a bit cross country to Nelson - what a mistakea to makea. For the next 3 hrs we averaged about 20mph as the road snaked its way around the unbelievable scenery past all of the bays and inlets. Beautiful but soooo slow. Hairpins every 10 meters = a very sick feeling driver, co-pilot and baby. Ah well - we got to Nelson eventually and the sun was blazing. We have been chillaxing today down by the deserted beach collecting shells and generally feeling pretty smug. I will post some pics rather than wax lyrical but its as good as we had hoped.
We will be here for at least the next 3 weeks and, if things go well for Lisa tomorrow, probably the next few years.
Thats it for now - I'll hopefully be a bit more subjective next time I write but the weather looks like being hot, hot, hot for the next week and I haven't got much to do but enjoy it so I wouldn't bet on it.
Ciao for now - thanks for the comments, its nice to know your having a read.
Click here to go to the pics on Flick
