Napier - Wellington - Napier (2020-02-27)

It has been a week of travelling and family time, so not a lot to talk about, but here goes....

The drive back to Wellington was uneventful, with coffee in Woodville, and a short visit with my sister Tricia at Cross Creek....one of the few times that we have visited Cross Creek that the wind was not at gale force.  I kid you not, we have actually seen the glass in a window bending in the wind there, it can be that strong.  We had time for a drink (tea only) and a snack, a walk in the yard, and picked a few passionfruit off Tricia's vines, before resuming our journey to Wellington.

Once in Wellington, the focus was to get Fredda organized for her flight home to Vancouver.  I made plans with my son in law to swap the SIM card in Fredda's phone once she arrived in Vancouver, so that we could continue to be in touch on her New Zealand phone number until she had left the country, but more on that later.

The other important task was stocking up her suitcase with New Zealand chocolate for the family back home, especially her great grandchildren.  We were glad that we bought chocolate at Pak N Save, as the prices elsewhere were substantially higher.  e.g. a Whittaker's 250 gram chocolate bar at Pak N Save was $4.50, the same bar at New World was $5.29, and at Wellington airport was 2 for $14, or $12 each.  Yes you read that right, 2 for $14, but $12 for 1.  So don't wait until you are at the airport to buy your goodies.

Air New Zealand provided excellent service for Fredda - they provided us with a wheelchair for her in Wellington airport and let us both walk her to the departure gate, boarded her first, and gave her a blanket.  She was met in Auckland, wheelchaired to the inter-terminal bus, wheelchaired from the bus, through the international departure formalities and to the departure gate.  In Vancouver, they wheelchaired her through Customs, got her checked luggage and sent her on her way pushing her luggage trolley, the short distance to where she met our son in law, Norm.

Fredda opted to go straight to the ferry, rather than spend the night with Norm and Heather, as Kinley (our granddaughter) was suffering with a cold.  So all Norm had to do was change the SIM card in Fredda's phone and drive her to the ferry.  The SIM card got changed and test messages started arriving, but it soon became clear that I had given her Marlene's Canadian SIM by mistake....talk about confusing!  I guess I can juggle 2 balls but not 3.  After thinking of the best way to extricate myself from this mess, Norm went to the nearest Telus store and obtained a new SIM card for Fredda's Canadian phone number, and all became fine once again in the world of communications....at least until Marlene gets back to Canada.

With Fredda safely home, we spent the weekend with my sister, Margaret, and then on Monday set off again for Napier, our home for the next four weeks.

We have now settled in to our accommodation (same place that we stayed at 2 years ago), picked up bikes from my cousins Maureen and Denzil, and have even done a few "muscle conditioning" rides to prepare us for longer rides later.  The leg muscles are okay, but the butt muscles protest every time we sit down on the seat.  Our training ride has been around the estuary, through the salt water marsh, a cafe stop, and easy ride home on the paved coastal path.

Marlene negotiating the boardwalk over the estuary

Don't try this portion of trail at high tide

Some of our newe friends in the marsh

It doesn't get much calmer than this - not a ripple

Port and Napier Hill from the easy coastal trail 

We try and get out biking as early as possible each morning (8:30 ish) before the winds pick up, which also gives us the rest of the day to focus on other activities.  I have much family history work to do, a conference to check out online, a possible relative of Marlene's to visit, and I have to prevent Marlene from feeling neglected.  Well 3 out of 4 ain't bad :-)

Nelson - Wellington - Napier (2020-02-19)

With travelling, family visits, and most recently, poor internet access, it has been a while since my last posting, so we have some catch up to do.

Tuesday of last week was our last day in Nelson, so we had one last walk in Queens Gardens, a last visit to River Kitchen Cafe and a last walk on Tahunanui beach in the evening.  Outside River Kitchen there is a unique bicycle repair station, which includes a hand pump and all of the tools that you might need to repair your bike, attached to long wire ropes (to prevent theft).  Makes me wish that I had a bike here, just to try it out.

Bicycle Repair Station

Wednesday was a travel day, so we returned the rental car (no damage noted) early, and lazed around the airport cafe, waiting for our flight to Wellington.  It was a great day for flying, and the pilot flew east to Picton and then north to Wellington, all at 11,000 feet ASL, giving us great views of the Marlborough Sounds and the miscellaneous water craft between Picton and Wellington.  There was no wind in Wellington, so I think it was my smoothest Wellington landing ever (usually we get tossed all over the sky on approach to Wellington).

The following 4 days were very focussed on visiting with my sisters and my nephew Adam and his family.  Adam and Colleen have almost finished major renovations to their house, so we were fortunate to be able to enjoy a relaxing dinner with them, and see the latest in kiwi-style building.  On Sunday, after a long walk along the Hutt River, we ventured into Wellington with my sisters, and visited Te Papa (The Museum of New Zealand).  Tricia wanted to see the Alice in Wonderland exhibit, and Fredda and I opted for the Gallipoli exhibit, while Margaret and Marlene had a waterfront walk.  The Gallipoli exhibit was produced by Peter Jackson  (think Lord of the Rings), to commemorate the allied (mainly New Zealand and Australian troops) landing (and later evacuation) in Turkey in WWI.  Some of the displays are larger than life models of the soldiers, complete with blood, sweat and flies.  It was well worth the price of admission (free), and a great way to pass a few hours in New Zealand's capital city.

Display in Gallipoli Exhibit

Wellington Harbour From Te Papa

When we woke on Monday we were greeted by the first real rain since we left home, so a good time to be heading out of town.  We checked out of our motel, picked up my sister Tricia, and headed north to Napier.  The first stop was in Featherston to drop Tricia off, and then continuing north, we left the rain behind at Masterton.  The plan was to stop for coffee in Pahiatua, a small farming town, but being Monday, the best cafes were closed, and so we continued on to Woodville.  After our coffee (and scone) in Woodville we didn't really need our packed lunch, but made a nostalgic stop just south of Waipukurau, at a road-side rest area, to eat our sandwiches.  My sisters and I were reminiscing the day before about always stopping at this spot when travelling to Napier with our parents, so I just had to do it.  The rest area did not look any different than it did 50 years ago.

Road-side Rest Area

When we arrived in Napier and stepped out of the car, we were hit with a wall of heat.  It was only 28 degrees, but the heat was very intense.  Our motel room is on the third floor, which gives us great views of the kids' bike playground and ocean across the street (excellent location), and if we open the front door and the balcony door, we get a nice breeze through the room (we do have an air conditioner, but when we run it, it does not smell very inviting - thinking maybe an animal peed on the outdoor unit on the balcony?).

View From Our Motel Room

In our two days in Napier we have shown Fredda all of our favourite places, including where we will be staying for the next 4 weeks, had several walks on the waterfront (Ahuriri, Napier and Haumoana), and visited with my cousins, Maureen and Denzil, who are in the throes of building a new house.  Hopefully they will be in their new house before we head home, but there looks to be a lot of work to do yet.

Tonight we had dinner at my favourite restaurant in the whole world, The Mission Winery.  In years gone by, the Mission was a seminary for Catholic priests, but with declining enrolment, the seminary closed several years ago and the associated winery is leased out, including the restaurant.  We sampled the bread with dips, salt and pepper squid appetiser, fish of the day (grouper) for Marlene and Fredda, lamb shank for Jim and a side dish of seasonal vegetables.  The food was excellent, and we lingered over our coffee, not wanting to leave.

Dinner is Served

Mission Winery

Tomorrow, we head back to Wellington, to put Fredda on the plane home, spend the weekend with my sister Margaret, and then we will be back up to Napier for the next four weeks.  The time is going by all too quickly.

Nelson, New Zealand (2020-02-10)

This week we have explored some new areas as well as revisiting some old haunts, and we have certainly preferred the cooler 22-25 degree temperatures....much more conducive to being outside.
The hot dry weather has resulted in many of the local trails being totally closed to the public due to extreme fire risk, including our favourite ridge walk, so it has been good to explore areas that we had not visited before.  The photo below is taken from the ocean-side of the playing fields opposite our Nelson home.  The ridge walk is likely visible just below the trees in the right half of the photo.

Playing Fields and Dry Hillside

The Brook Waimarama Sanctuary is only a few kilometres outside of Nelson, and similar to the Zealandia sanctuary in Wellington, is fully enclosed by a high electric fence, to keep predators out.  New Zealand's native bird population has been decimated by introduced pests such as rats, opossums, stoats and weasels, which eat the eggs of the birds, so these sanctuaries allow the native birds to flourish in the absence of the predators, which are trapped and removed from the sanctuary.  To monitor what species of animals are in the sanctuary, so that they know what type of trap is required to remove them, they set up tunnels with an ink pad and white paper in them, baited with peanut butter - the animals walk through the tunnel and leave their footprints on the white paper.  Mice are the most frequent animal detected, but they do not bother the birds and are virtually impossible to eliminate.

Footprint Tunnels on Trail

Mice Footprints

We walked the wheelchair-accessible trail with Fredda, then left her reading a book at a picnic table, while Marlene and I did a longer more strenuous trail.

Waterfall at Brook Waimarama Sanctuary

The Tuis and Bellbirds stayed fairly well hidden in the foliage, but we did manage to see a wood pigeon more in the open.

Wood Pigeon (Kereru)

Thursday was the 104th anniversary of my mother's birth, but that was not the reason for the public holiday.  February 6th is Waitangi Day, commemorating the signing of a treaty between the British and the Maori peoples of Aotearoa in 1840, which was the beginning of New Zealand as a British colony.  We celebrated by going to the Kai (food) Festival at Founders Park, which is the local heritage park.  Groups from many different cultural backgrounds sell the food of their homeland, ranging from Pacific Islands fare to European, Asian, Indian, and everything in  between.  Fredda went all out and had an American hotdog, I opted for the bratwurst and Marlene for an Indonesian curry dish.  It was a great day out, and only a short walk from our front door.

On Friday we headed out of town to the Gardens of the World, in nearby Hope.  The garden area is not particularly large, but is broken down into different geographic areas, with each area containing plants from that part of the world.  It was great to wander the globe and we even had a picnic beside the pond.  I made a new friend, but no matter how loud I called, he would not follow me home.

Jim and his new friend

Picnic Area

A Bridge in the Shade

On Sunday we headed back to Rabbit Island for a walk, but with the goal of ending up in Mapua for lunch.  It is a 3.5 km walk from the closest parking lot on Rabbit Island, to the Mapua ferry, a pleasant walk along the edge of a pine plantation, and close to the beach.  The 7 km round trip is a bit much for Fredda, so we got her all set for the ferry, and Marlene and I walked (briskly) back to the car, and drove the 20 minutes to Mapua.  When Fredda saw the ferry she thought it looked like a floating shack, and the facilities were somewhat rustic, but it is in only a 5 minute ride across the river mouth, catering mainly to cyclists, so passenger comfort is not a priority.  If it were part of the BC Ferries fleet it would perhaps be named the Coastal Desperation.

Mapua Ferry and Rabbit Island

Onboard the Mapua Ferry

Lunch in Mapua was excellent, sitting on the patio of the cafe, watching the world go by.  It doesn't get much better than that, except perhaps for the ice cream that I picked up after lunch.

Today we explored a new section of the Maitai River walk, before having a coffee at the River Kitchen Cafe (Fredda's favourite coffee location) in downtown Nelson.

Maitai River

We are now off to grab a table and have one last drink at the Sprig and Fern pub, as tomorrow is our last day in Nelson, and there will be much to do in preparation for our departure to Wellington on Wednesday morning.

Nelson, New Zealand (2020-02-04)

We rounded off last Tuesday with an evening visit to Isel Park in nearby Stoke, looking for somewhere shady to walk.  The park was originally the estate of the Marsden family, another of the area's early settlers.  It was a great place for shade, but also some really nice gardens.

Isel House

On Wednesday we took a road trip to Pelorus Bridge, which is about 45 minutes east of Nelson.  The slow-moving river is a popular place for swimming, with several large pools near to the bridge, but the area is also home to several short bush walks, and a stepping-off point for other longer walks.  The river in this area featured in the Lord of the Rings movie, as the place where the Hobbits floated down a river in barrels.  We did several of the short walks, before stopping for lunch at the nearby café - a DOC (Dept. of Conservation) guy had told Marlene that they make the best steak and cheese pies, and I can attest that they were very tasty.

Tree Fern

Bridge over a tributary to the Pelorus River

On the trip home I saw the sign below, in a field in the middle of nowhere, advertising a livestock psychologist.  We had much discussion (and laughs) about what exactly a livestock psychologist might do, and imagined him trying to change the behaviour of the animals.  It turns out that this is exactly what they do - they teach farmers how to read their animals and change any behaviour that they feel is unbecoming to a fine young cow or sheep.  Who would have thought that such job opportunities even existed.

Ad for a Livestock Psychologist

That evening, as we were walking the waterfront path, next to highway 6, I saw that every parking space in a roadside pull-off area was occupied by camper vans of one type or another - freedom campers.  In many areas in New Zealand, overnight camping is allowed in designated areas, but generally the vehicles are expected to be self-sufficient for water and waste.  Of course many people who don't have self-contained units camp in these areas, and you can imagine the amount of waste (human and otherwise) that accumulates by the end of the summer.  Businesses support the idea of freedom camping as it means more potential customers for them, but the everyday kiwi is not as impressed.  I saw one camper with a sign that read "Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I drive by again?" Cute!

Freedom Campers

Rabbit Island was our destination on Thursday, but we did not stay too long as the heat was intense, the breeze sadly lacking, and not a lot of shade.  We did see several wekas walking the parking lots looking for scraps of food, or anything else that they could appropriate.  Wekas are an endemic flightless bird, about the size of a chicken, not to be confused with a kiwi.  Kiwis are nocturnal and wekas prefer the daylight, so you are not likely to get them confused.

Weka foraging for food

Beach on Rabbit Island

We have not experienced any more earthquakes since our first night, but on Rabbit Island there were many signs reminding you of when there might be a tsunami - if the earthquake is strong, or lasts a long time, then head to higher ground.

Tsunami Warning Sign

On the hottest days, we have avoided long walks during the middle of the day, but have enjoyed long walks in the cool of the evening on Tahunanui Beach, a long stretch of sandy beach between Nelson and Richmond.  Here we can walk for several kilometres, dipping our feet in the water as necessary to stay cool - a popular spot this past week.

Tahunanui Beach

Yesterday was a public holiday in the Nelson area, but nowhere else in New Zealand.  Everybody was off work to celebrate the Nelson Province Anniversary Day.  New Zealand was divided into two provinces in 1846, six provinces in 1853 (including Nelson), which over the years grew to twelve provinces, but in 1961, the provinces (which had no governing power after 1876) were replaced by statistical areas, and in 1974 by local government regions.  In summary, anniversary day is just a paid holiday, to celebrate something which has been extinct since 1876.

We took the opportunity to go to the movies as a lot of other places were closed.  Our (my) movie choice was "1917", which we thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to others.  It collected a bunch of awards at the BAFTAs this week, so it seems that it is not just our opinion.

After the movie we planned to pick up burgers to eat at the beach, but our favourite take-out place was closed for the public holiday.  Ditto for our favourite Thai restaurent.  In desperation we went to an acclaimed burger place in Tahunanui, and we did thoroughly enjoy the burgers, but were less impressed with their cash register skills - paid the $44 bill with a $50 note and received $4 change (which I caught and they corrected), but in studying the receipt later, found they had charged us for a tin of ketchup ($2.50) rather than the single serving that we received ($0.50), and our request for a half scoop of chips was processed as a full scoop (which we received).  We wrote it off as a public holiday surcharge, and enjoyed our picnic at the beach.  The sea gulls likely rescued the extra chips from the garbage can in which the well-wrapped scraps were placed.

Today, the heat has finally dropped, so must get out and enjoy the day.