North of the South Island

Wednesday 7 November we drove from Westport to Nelson via the Buller Gorge, along with a German woman from our Westport backpackers.   A twisty route following the Buller River and very beautiful.  



Stopped at Murchison for a coffee in what had been a petrol station, then rafting centre, now coffee and gift shop.  Kind of reflects changes in the economy.
Rafting centre in the mid 1990s

On to Nelson, dropped our lift at her backpacker and then checked in at the Prince Albert (PA) hotel/ backpackers (no sniggering at the back please).    Good size en suite room with a view of the hills beyond.  

Out to the town for lunch and visit the Suter Gallery.  Eat at the PA in the evening - delicious salt and pepper squid salad and  a burger.

Cheers

Thursday and Friday's weather is low clouds and rain which puts a dampner (ha, ha) on planned trip to the beach.  

We do however visit Gaelynn and her husband Jim in Nelson - Gaelynn and I worked together in England a great many years ago.

Saturday is still overcast but today we're travelling to Ngakuta Bay near Blenheim.  Normally it's a two hour trip but the road is blocked due to landslides so we have to take a longer route which upsets the sat nav for quite a while (make a U turn, go right and right again etc.  A lot.).  Very pretty drive along the Wairau valley once we're through the mono culture radiata pine plantations.  Spot a coffee cart in the middle of nowhere (the Xtrail has good brakes, John reacts fast) called "F*** That's Delicious" which sells excellent coffee.  

Yes, it was delicious coffee!

And had a long drop loo with a view..... as it has no door .


Loo with a view

Leave the valley and we're in Blenheim wine country, vineyard after vineyard, some with familiar names others new to us.   


Turn north onto state highway 1 ('follow The One' as the sat nav says) to Picton where we stop for a coffee with a view.

Picton

then the last 11 kms of hairpin bends and road works to get to our destination.   Beautiful house and garden, fantastic setting,  which our friends Bluey and Lynn are renting for a three days - we're there with them, one of their sons, Fraser, and friend Minty holidaying from the UK plus her son Morgan.


Ngakuta Bay house

We potter, unpack and go for a wander on the beach which is all of a minute's walk away.  Simply stunning - and the sun is shining.   





A man and his boat with no name (definitely not Edna!)


Beauty and the beach

My kind of gnome

Next day some of the party head off to launch Bluey's boat and go fishing.  Unfortunately John has a run in with the frame of the deck awning and cuts his head badly.  Blood everywhere but Minty patches him up, then Lynn drives John and me 42 kms to the Blenheim Emergency care unit (A & E).   A lot of sitting around but his wound is sewn up, eventually, by a doctor with zero bedside manner (the nurses are all great) and returns with 7 stitches, a big bandage and instructions not to get his head wet (so no head under water when swimming).  

Ouch!


The rest of the team i.e. Morgan, have caught some fish which Bluey smokes and is part of our dinner that night.  Dine under the stars until the beastly bitey things start feasting on us.

Monday - the sun is shining!   The boys go fishing and Lynn, Minty and I plus Coco the dog go for a two and a quarter mile walk along the beach and then on a path up through the bush - birdsong and stunning views.  The morning's fishing results only in one very small shark (a rig) who is returned to the water.


Morgan and his Rig

In the afternoon Bluey does two trips to ferry us over to a beach on the other side of the water and we swim, kayak and wade around (its not warm enough for one of us to swim). 







The first return trip is done and then John and Bluey come back for Lynn and me..... by which time the sand flies have had a really good go at my feet and legs.  Itchy!    With the tide going out there was a bit of wading and lifting required to get the boat out of the shallows and out deep enough to start the outboard, but team work was the dream work.

Final night at the crib (holiday home) and pack up the next day to leave by 10.00 am

Ngakuta Bay Posse






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