So we took the long drive from Nelson to Moteuka on the 26th. Well, the long drive takes about an hour, plus the time it takes to turn back after ten minutes journey to get the towels that we left drying on the washing line at the hostel...
We got to the hostel very early, kind of surprising the woman who ran it and got a room so we could dump our stuff and go for a wander. We went by the place organising the kyaking the next day to do the paperwork and they gave us details about phoning to check whether they would cancel as the weather report for the next couple of days was less than great. We spent the day wandering around the town, going to the i-Site to get info on our next points of call and then going to the local Sprig and Fern to lubricate our minds in order to take in the brochures we'd picked up. We took it easy in the evening, just grabbing some food and some chat before turning in for an early night as we had an earlyish start in the morning.
A brief departure from topic to give a wee lecture on house design in New Zealand. Every building is made of wood. The houses that don't look like they are actually are made of wood with a different finish; the rather tacky "brick veneer" being one of them. The houses are placed on wooden piles on a criss-cross base, the reason being that this way they won't fall down when an earthquake hits! Result. Another favourite in design would appear to be no sound proofing and have single glazing using the thinest glass possible (well it seems like it is). Welcome to the world of staying in hostels which were probably built on the cheap just to accentuate all of the characteristics... The point here is that you never really get a good quiet night in a hostel unless you are the only people there, which we weren't.
The hostel was, again, really nice and well equipped (if lacking in sound proofing, as mentioned above). And this time we weren't the eldest there :o) In particular, we got to know a really nice German guy who was cycling around the island, and slightly eccentric but totally harmless gentlement in this 60s acronymed (made up word?) PEG - Posh English Guy - and a very funny American bloke with a most definitely un-American sense of humour, acronymed TAG - tall American bloke (acronyn was less dubious than Funny American Guy would have been.....)
Anyhow, some broken sleep later we awoke to find the weather looked okay, so got ready and went out to get the bus to the kayaking to discover they'd cancelled due to bad weather further north where we were headed. Poo. We quickly hatched a plan B which was to drive to the bottom of the walk and walk up it for a while and then back. Fairly early on in the walk Chris suggested to Andy that she took some stuff out of his rucksack and that he ran on ahead. This was a double whammy for Chris - the run might cheer Andy up, as he was still miserable at the trip being cancellend, and she would have some time to herself with just the surroundings for company. Oh, and she wouldn't have to look at the sad face next to her for any longer. So make that a triple wammy ;o) This was great for both of us. The weather was okay, it spat with rain a little but it was good for cooling purposes, Andy got a fun bit of trail running in, Chris had a great walk, and the Abel Tasman park is simply wonderful. We booked the kayaking for the next day to try again...
So we awoke to find it well very blustery and very wet, so yep, cancelled again and this was our last chance to do it! Over a small (!) beer the previous evening we had formed an alternate plan should it be cancelled again. This alternate plan of getting water taxis up the trail (Chris walking back down, Andy getting dropped further up and running back down) failed to as the water taxis weren't running either due to the conditions! Typically, we hadn't formed a third plan taking this into account. However, we were very grateful to be where we were. The weather wasn't too bad and brightened up fairly early on. Other parts of the country were being flooded and torn apart be gale force winds, including, it turns out, the area we had travelled through two days earlier!
So instead of kayaking, we hopped in the car and headed the other direction along the coast to come nice bays, finding a good coffee shop serving more fabulous date scones and the biggest danish pastry ever seen on the way. So why would we be much rounder versions of previous selves, we wonder? No idea at all......
In an attempt at balance we also went out for a wee run later down a sand spit wit loads of birds on it, as well as a bit of sand. Along the way we got baked, soaked and then baked dry again. The weather was a little changeable, so quite like home (apart from the baking bit). In yet another attempt at balance we then again went to the Spring and Fern (to chat to the very nice owner who recognises us, to the point of "The usual?" - whether that is a good or bad sign, we are undecided....) to plan our next journey.
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