Day 25

morning in Nelson, then drive to Renwick. Thought I'd take Keith into Nelson to show him a few of the spots Zack and I'd discovered yesterday, but because it was Sunday things were either shut-up or opening late. Ah well - saw a bit of the historic town, and pointed to this and that as we zoomed out of town and onto Highway 6. The road from there to Blenheim and the Marlborough wine region in Rapuara valley was a long winding trip. Keith insisted on stopping at Pelorus Bridge at the tiny craft-market, which was a winner in retrospect because we got my mum a lovely pottery bowl there with a kiwi on it.
We arrived in Renwick before lunchtime so had a chance to look for a B&B before it was too late. We ended up a delightful spot in the suburbs where we had our own kitchen with chooks outside the window and home-grown mushrooms.
Zack was fighting sleep so I stuffed him into the car, and deserted Keith, knowing full-well that in minutes Zack would be snoozing in the back (grrr.... little blighter). Instead of doing a 10 min loop, I thought, "what the hell, I wanted to do some vineyards, and Keith wasn't too keen, so I'll go and see what I like while Zee's asleep and hit 2 birds with one stone."
It was a winner : I went to Saint Clair and tried a few wines, and settled on the Reisling as a fave. Stopped at a chocolate boutique over the road, and bought a box for the sleeping hubster, and then wandered home along the vineyards.
Got back to base to find that Keith was still awake (grrr) and keen to go out, so we got ourselves together and drove up to Picton. Can't say it was amazing, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but I left Keith and Zack to go and take photos along the peninsula towards Waikawa and headed into an internet cafe.
Weather was rubbish, so their mission failed, and when we hooked up neither of us felt like hunting for dinner, so we just drove back to Renwick and went to bed.

Day 24

Keith has food poisoning, so day in Nelson & dinner in Mapua. Keith was up at 2am, 4am and 6am with food poisoning so he spent most of the day in bed. Zack and I went into town to enjoy the flea-market and Nelson city-centre. We wandered thru' the historical precinct and some fun shopping and jazz musician-watching. It's the Nelson Jazz Festival at the moment, so there were live performers at most major sites. What fun! We got back to Keith in the late afternoon and the boys went off to play in the local playground, while I tried to finish my book. On their return, we headed off to Mapua to a wonderful little harbour-side restaurant called the Smokehouse. We'd made a reservation, so we had the best seat in the house - a 270˚view of the waterside and Zack asleep in the car (Whoo-hoo). Wonderful fish and a bottle of Golden Bay 2001 bubbly. Fabulous! We sang "The wheels on the bus" all the way home with Zee.

ps. not a single poo today... Uh Oh! I'm worried about tonight and tomorrow morning :-(

Day 23

Drive from Pohara to Nelson. We took hours to pack up, and finally extracted ourselves from the cabin at 12:20, in time to head to the beach to see the Sand Castle Building Competition. It was good fun - everyone and their dread-locked mate was down there building their version of the most imaginative sand-sculpture. There was Bart Simpson saying "Eat My Shorts" while being devoured by a shark, 2 mermaids, quite a few takes on the "castle" theme, octopi, fish, some Noddy-esque cars, message sculptures (ie. Save the World, Stop Global Warming, etc), a "Beach Bum" (naked body, face-down in the sand), numerous turtles, shells and other sea-creatures. The most impressive conceptual piece was an underground labyrinth which invited the judges to explore it's hidden passages - outside it looked like 8 regular holes in the sand.


Zack was getting ratty, so it was time to go, and good timing too - he fell asleep within the city limits, so we had the pleasure of doing most of our day's driving while he was out cold. This is the ideal scenario - in case you're wondering. When we got through to Mapua, we stopped at a new resto called the Playhouse Theatre, and had some lunch and looked at their ducks. Zack was very grumpy because I woke him up to join us - this is such a rarity that it deserves a mention.
Afterwards, we stopped at a glass gallery on route into Nelson. It took us some time to ascertain our lodgings for the night because the stupid iSite staff couldn't find our booking. I went off and found an internet cafe and printed out the email they'd sent us earlier in the week. We were staying in Tahunanui Beach - more relaxed part of town than Nelson with a very long stretch of white beach to itself. We gave Zack the staple of sausage, brocolli and carrots and then put him to bed. We had Thai take-aways, and settled in for the night. I thought everything was fine, but....

Day 22

in Clifton/ Abel Tasman (north). Another glorious day in Golden Bay. We started with a stop at a gallery EarthSea where we bought a beautiful print of a painting we loved. There were quite a few originals, but nothing that grabbed us as much as the print. Then we drove through to Pohara Beach which is a beautiful crescent. I sat in the shade and read my book while Keith and Zack played in the water, built sandcastles and enjoyed romping on the sand. Ah, it is so wonderful watching the two of them playing together - I know how special this time together is, so it's important to store up each moment in my heart. Zack ended up running around nudies again. I wonder if he's fashion-conscious yet ? I'm aware that his swimming costume is a rather inflated yellow speedo, and lots of the boys his size are wearing faded baggies that look very hip. I hated my first swimming costume, so maybe I'm just over-sensitive. I'd made sandwiches which we ate in the shade, sitting on a huge piece of driftwood with New Year 2008 graffiti scrawled on it in coal. Zack was fading so we decided to drive through to Abel Tasman and absorb some of it's glory and reputation. We were welcomed by a very winding dirt road and then a glorious avenue of the biggest trees you've ever seen, leading up to the DoC hut & beach. This beach was different - it was honey coloured and the grains of sand were like sugar crystals and really crunched with each foot step. It was hard going because it was so soft, dissolving under your feet as you tried to move forward.
We had to walk for miles to get to the rocks on the furthest end of the beach, where a small river ran down into the sea. I was relieved to reach this marker. There were gulls bathing in the shallows further upstream and a brunette sunning herself a few feet from us. We settled ourselves down and took off Zack's shoes so that he could enjoy the sand. I'd fished out a large serving spoon from our canvas fridge bag (holder of all things Tasman Beach Excursion'ish) and set about digging sand for his pleasure. After a few returns, Zack was off to befriend the brunette who was now pulling sand onto her, I'm guessing here, sunburnt feet. Yes, mine were feeling pretty sunburnt and tight too. He has a real knack for "the approach", when it comes to strangers - he knows exactly what to do to endear himself. This time he just plopped down on his knees, smiled and started to help her add sand to the growing pile. In no time, he'd won her over. (Charlie, you would be proud!)
We played in the sea too, looked at schools of small silver fish swim this way and that to escape our wading-legs, smiled at more bathers, and then it was time to head home - the sandflies were out in force. We packed it all up, including the now sandy lens-cap (Oh dear me), and waded across the now thigh-deep river and to a nearby jetty and a route into the campsite and easy walking. Keith went on ahead and came back to pick us up.

Abel Tasman is another beautiful place - completely covered in rainforest and giant ferns. We were sorely tempted by a sign at the top of the hill saying "For Sale" with details that sounded heavenly - sea views, 10 hectares of land, indigenous forest and wood, etc. etc. Ah, if only it was closer to home !
We wandered home via the Totally Roasted shop for cheesecake. We weren't sure what our temporary "home" would look like this evening, after the bee-escapade last night. We were shocked to see hundreds of bees against all the windows - what is it with bees that they can't do a U-turn ? I just don't know. So Keith had to take the lead and make a path for us to walk in, collect some toys and then exit promptly while he stayed to sweep and cajole all of them out of our house. It proved to be a tortuous task, as some where lying on the floor from exhaustion, but others were hell-bent on staying at the window pane. In the meantime Zack was determined to "go and have a look", instead of staying outside where he was safe. The shouting and the dragging of the toddler ensued. I thought that distracting him with hanging our washing would be a good ploy, but then I discovered that the bloody washing machine had been doing our clothes ALL DAY. It's a bit messed up and doesn't seem to do a spin cycle any more either. %*&$! So I had to take the dripping wet clothes out the machine and wring them by hand before putting them on the line, all the while telling Zack to stay out of the laundry (those little fingers love pressing every button), and to bring the peg-bag back to me. By the time Keith joined me to say "all clear," I was frazzled and swearing. My hands are badly chapped from the water, and now I'd been wringing out litres of water from our clothes so I could hang it on the line. I'm not sorry that we're going to Nelson tomorrow.
I'd been cooking some brocolli and carrots for Zack's dinner, in between all of this going on, so we sat him at the table, and I went out to read my book. Karen turned up to pick fruit, so we had a chat, and paid her for our time here (she was kind enough to give us a discount because of the bees) .
Zack faded in about 10 minutes this evening, which was a blessed relief for a rather care-worn and exhausted mummy. Keith went off to photograph the spectacular sunset and I sat down to type the blog and read my book. Quite a balm for the soul really.
It was one of those evenings, where, as time passed, you knew it was going to breath-takingly beautiful: a gentle building of the golden tones on the blue-gums behind the cabin, and the high cirrus clouds, blowing away from west to east like candy-floss fingers, purple on one side and the palest pink, turning gold, on the other. I can hear the wind picking up, picking up, in the gum trees, and I know the weather's going to change. There's washing on the line, and I've a feeling there'll be a storm tonight... Ah well, I'll have to rescue the sodden mess in the morning.
Hot tub, BBQ'd Halloumi at 10:45pm and off to bed.

Day 21

in Pohara/Clifton. We took our landlady's advice and went straight down to Clifton Beach on the local golf-course. A huge expanse of sand, going for miles in both directions, with gulls and oyster catchers dipping into the water, puddles of left-behind sea water here and there, some dried-out rays on the waterline, and the most gorgeous big scallop shells lying here ... and here... and here... nature is so beautiful. Zack got more and more confident in the sea, and was loving the waves. Keith and I took turns taking him down to the water's edge to play, and by midday decided it was hot enough (and our feet were feeling pretty fried), so we headed back to the car. Zack conked out in minutes, while we were driving towards Pohara, so we stopped in Pohara at Totally Roasted (a coffee shop come hacienda) where we decided to have just cheesecake for lunch. Definitely the best cheesecake I've had in ages. I had the passionfruit and Keith had the lemon & honey. We even had an apricot and chocolate brioche to go. Very naughty indeed! Then off to Takaka for a session of blog-uploading which took 90 mins in a local laundry (This is very popular in NZ - a laundry and internet cafe in one). Unfortunately while Keith and Zack were playing in a nearby playground, Zack had yet another exploding nappy incidents, taking Keith's T-shirt with him! Eeek. So Keith was walking around shirtless feeling like a moron, while Zack had clean shorts on (Yup, I'd packed a change of clothes just in case :o)). Time to head home.
Oh dear me, we returned to doors and windows full of bees. Looking up at the ceiling in the kitchen-area, we saw that the bees were coming thru joints in the slats of wood in the ceiling.

Day 20

drive to Golden Bay. What a very long day! We woke up early and got everyone dressed and fed. Before we could exit the building Zack managed another enormous upset-tummy number, so it was "All Change Please" (#1). We exited Charleston at 9:10am (very unusual for the Guthries on holiday), and made it a few miles down the road where we'd hoped to buy some groceries - aware that the 2nd was a public holiday here and we'd be in the boondocks again. We exited Westport at 10:35am having stocked up on all the necessities. Now we had a huge drive ahead of us. We came up on State Highway 6 to Murchison, where we stopped for lunch at a great cafe for burgers and a jungle-gym. Zack managed to have another enormous upset-tummy so we hoisted him to the grass for change #2 of the day.
The final distances up to Golden Bay seem to have gone faster than we'd dreaded which was a relief. Zack was getting very antsy and wanted to get out of the car all the time, for various reasons. Whew! It is so hard to decide when your child is being truthful or when they're just saying what the "alarm bells" are, to get you to hop it. Saying, "down" and "poo" to us, is an immediate break, whip him out of the carseat and onto the side of the road, where his pants are checked. Ha Ha... we had that a few times. But nothing doing, he just wanted to go off the side of the road and play with the stones (bless him, he does love stones). Much kicking and screaming to get him back into the car, to keep going. On the hill coming through the neck from the main highway Zack decided to vomit everything he'd eaten onto his lap. Well, you've never seen two parents act faster - the wet-wipes, the towel, the tissues, a change of clothes. Fast as lightning. I'm sure that time was because of motion sickness because we climbed very quickly along the windy-est road we've been on, and I would've felt miserable if I'd been in the back seat.

Day 19

In Charleston & Punakaiki. Hells Bells! Zack gave us the surprise of our lives this morning. He had filled his nappy, his pyjamas and his gro-bag with poo. Yes, with poo. We had a pretty quiet time yesterday afternoon, but I didn't think anything of it - it wouldn't be the first time. But this morning... My oh my. It's one of those stunned parent moments - you aren't completely awake but you know you have to do something IMMEDIATELY. Whew! We grabbed him and air-lifted him to the shower where we stripped him of all garments. I pulled on the rubber gloves and Keith rinsed Zack in the shower. We aren't stupid - we'd bought some NapiSan at the outset of our travels and have used it many times in the last few weeks, but this morning it came into it's own. After rinsing everything we sprinkled it with the magic stuff, and got some breakfast in. The motel lady said we could use the laundry, much to our relief.
We walked down to the beach where Zack discovered the sea for the first time, and couldn't get enough of 'waves'. He kept saying, "More!" and the sea was happy to deliver - ain't nature great ? He loved the rocks, the stones, the seashells, and of course, the sand - handfuls of it. We investigated the rocks and rock pools. Delighted to discover tiny crabs, small mussels everywhere and two magnificent starfish. Have you ever ? Goes to show how untouched this beautiful country is, when you can get starfish bigger than your hand, with more than 7 arms, on a regular beach.
Had a bit of a task getting Zack to take his afternoon nap, so gave up the struggle and drove down to Punakaiki. Zack fell asleep within minutes - little blighter ! So we headed into the cafe for a nice cuppa and a read of the paper. I even got onto the 'net before Zee woke up. Time to go and see the famous pancake rocks and blowholes. Really special sights - the pictures are going to say more than I can write.


Dinner was in the Punakaiki Tavern where Keith had the best steak in NZ - so tender and delicious. They have a lovely garden too, where you can sit at rocks like the Flintstones, and eat your meal in natural environs. No honestly, it was good.
Ruth and Zack home, Keith off to photograph the sunset.

Happy New Year everyone !