Christmas shopping in 70 degree weather, Mt Robert and a trip to the Sounds

Mt Robert

The week after the glow worm expedition came and went in the blink of an eye. Shannon transitioned jobs mid week, spending the first half of Wednesday at Council and the second half at Bayleys (the new gig). We had a proper morning tea farewell with the Council crew, cappuccino and date scones from Devilles…YUM (Kylie, you and Tyler will definitely be brunching here). Plus a generous gift consisting of a lovely bottle of vino and a voucher to an adorable boutique gift shop. I will definitely be missing the council crew. The Bayleys team welcomed me with open arms and I began to dive back into the design side of me - building property adverts for the incredible homes that are listed in Nelson and the surrounding areas. I’m really enjoying the job thus far and always excited to be expanding my skills and experience.

For those that may not have connected the dates, the week we’re speaking about was actually Thanksgiving Day week. Well, let us tell you, Thanksgiving does not exist in NZ. Even if it did, no one could afford it, the price of a Turkey here is close to 6 times the price of one in the states. Needless to say, our budget conscious minds would not let us partake in the traditional meal – so we came up with our own NZ Turkey day twist. It was amazing of course – Sticky scallop and vegetable fettuccini with blasted broccoli and asparagus to top it off, oh yeah and of course BACON. We are happy to call this meal the best we’ve had in NZ hands down. It was delicious, as was the bottle of vino we paired with it. As great as it was, we were definitely a bit homesick for the families and traditional food. Thankfully, Aunt Marie and crew will be hooking up a replacement Tday meal while we’re in Montana. Counting down the days!

Saturday we spent the day finishing up our Christmas shopping. Christmas shopping while it’s 70 degrees outside is a different experience; we got through it and were able to tick one more thing off the ‘getting ready for home’ list.  

Sunday we decided to get out of the house and spend the day tramping in Nelson Lakes National Park. This was our first hike in the Park and it was absolutely beautiful. The surroundings are very similar to what you would find in Northern Idaho or Montana. It felt like home. We hiked up Mt Robert, an elevation of 1,421 metres (4,662 ft), which sits at the side of Lake Rotoiti The way up was a bit tough for me I must admit – switchbacks all the way up the face of a mountain is not my idea of fun. But as John kindly reminded me when I stopped complaining and we reached the top – the view is what makes the hard part worth it. And yes, it was worth it, 100 times over.

We made our way up the mountain, through some different vegetation  from the coast hikes we have been on and back down again. We stopped briefly at the edge of the lake to cool off when we had our first eel experience! Thankfully we weren’t in the water when John noticed them – they were hiding under the dock probably waiting for fisherman to feed them fish waste. Ugly little buggers they are about 4 feet long and creepy looking as well. Of course our minds immediately turned to food and we commented on how delicious they probably were. Eel fishing may have to be added to the list.

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving weekend.

The week was fairly uneventful, work, running, dinner…we did however enjoy a nice kiwi barbie with the old flatmates on Wednesday night. Venison sausages and rotisserie chicken on the barbie, paired with some phenomenal salads and hot chips for an appetizer. Dinner on the deck, sunset over the bay, good friends and wine - A great mid week celebration. Thursday rolled by and Friday was once again upon us.

Sunset in the Sounds



View from our room.



Raetihi Lodge





Friday after work we headed toward Kenepuru Sound – through the windy roads, across the water via boat taxi – arriving at the Raetihi Lodge in time to catch the incredible sunset and enjoy a bottle of vino and some cribbage. This place is definitely secluded, with nothing surrounding you but the sound and native bush. It was peaceful, beautiful and incredibly relaxing. We woke up Saturday morning ready to head out and explore. We jumped on the double sea kayak and headed out toward a sandy beach just across the way.  Unfortunately we didn’t come across any dolphins, but of course, there were plenty of birds to photograph. We spent some time walking the beach – Shannon gathering rocks she’s determined to somehow turn into jewelry and John skipping rocks and looking for critters, crayfish, anything that we could potentially eat. It was a great adventure and killer arm/shoulder workout…which we’re both still feeling.

After making our way back to the lodge and enjoying some lunch, we headed off again, this time by land and mountain bike up the road to see what we could find. The truth is, there wasn’t much. BUT, we did find the local golf course which in true NZ fashion fences off the greens so the sheep can’t get in. Classic. Saturday night brought more wine, more cribbage, and a game of trying to photograph the Tui that kept flying onto the deck off our room. A perfect photograph of the Tui would show the white tuft on its breast…this is as good as we could get, shot 10 out of 462 (okay, a bit of an exaggeration).

The final exciting moment of the day was the 5.7 magnitude earthquake…it didn’t last long, maybe 10-20 seconds, but count to 10 and think of everything that could run through your mind in that short amount of time! It was a bit crazy, and I was happy when it was over that my wine didn’t get knocked over. Sunday we awoke to rain and headed back across the water to the Adventureship and made our way back home for some Sunday College football watching. All in all, another successful weekend!

Stay tuned for the next posting, which will include a boat trip to Abel Tasman for the Bayleys Christmas Shout (which means party)…packing…and what we’re most excited for, MONTANA and the Sanden family!! Lots of love to everyone in the states. Stay safe and warm and here’s to the holiday season!

Cheers,

John and Shannon

Good food and drink, Glow-worms, Sand flies and more Incredible Scenery

Pass from Murchison to Nelson

The week moved along at a somewhat steady pace…practicing our regular weekly routines, work, run, dinner, movie/read and sleep. Thankfully the weather continues to get nicer and when it’s a good day, ending our run at the top of Princess drive overlooking the Tasman Bay is a wonderful way to mentally relax from whatever may be on your mind.

Shannon received a call early on in the week about a new job opportunity with a NZ Real Estate Company, Bayleys. Bayleys is one of NZ’s largest property services companies with 60 offices across NZ and Fiji. A fixed term position for the marketing and advertising manager at the Nelson hub would keep me working until we take off from Nelson to explore the rest of the islands. The interviews went well and I will say farewell to the council and hello to the real estate world in the next couple of weeks.

We started off the weekend right with beers at the Freehouse with some of the council peeps. Beautiful weather, good beer and great conversation. The weekend was looking bright. Homemade pizza for dinner, delicious as usual and movie rental to bring our generation back to childhood, Mrs. Doubtfire. (Yes shmeegs, I thought of you and how many times we watched this movie growing up). Saturday was spent catching up on much needed rest and indulging in a season of Dexter…embarrassing we know. That evening we headed over to our American friends house for dinner and drinks. It’s great hanging out with people who understand all of your stateside references. A great dinner and good time all around. Sunday started with a killer breakfast (as per usual) and John getting a pork roast that had been marinating for two days in the oven…needless to say, we ate well all weekend. Along with all of the eating we were able to accomplish some other tasks, including, booking our official return tickets to the states (for everyone that has been asking, no, we are not extending our trip…we miss you all way too much and will be back in May). After a quick stop over in Brisbane, we will be back stateside summer 2012. We also fit in some grid iron and basketball research on Sunday as well.

And then, another week was upon is! Same thing, the week went something like this… work, run, dinner, movie/read and sleep. Then it was time for another exciting weekend.

train up to the caves

We made our second attempt at an exciting West Coast weekend…and thankfully this one proved to be more interesting than the last. We made our way to Charleston on Saturday morning, a bustling town of 150 people. Charleston was founded as a gold mining town after a major gold rush in 1867. The gold ran out, as did the people (once 30 thousand strong) and what remains is a tourist trap – tours of the young limestone caves, dense fern covered forest and last but not least, the glow-worm. The tour we signed up for was the underground tubing and glow-worm tour.  We’ve mentioned the glow-worm twice, and I’m sure you yanks back home are wondering what the heck it is. Well…it’s not the cuddly toy some of us had as kids, although finding this image of the toy version glow-worm brought a smile to my face remembering how much my sisters and I loved that thing – no they’re actually a genus of four fungus gnat species which are, in their larval stage, glow-worms (thank you Wikipedia). They are kind of like lighting bugs that don’t fly and are blue instead of yellow.

Our float crew: Teams USA, German and Brit

The tour starts with a train ride and short hike through the forest to get to the cave entrance. After the standard cave tour you’ll receive anywhere in the world – stalactites, stalagmites and columns – we jumped in our tubes inside the cave and headed off in search of the elusive glow-worm.

You tube through the limestone cave in complete darkness, which is worth it once you glance up and see the thousands of glow-worms decorating the cave ceiling.

It truly is an incredible sight, similar to a sky filled with thousands of stars, they almost seem to create rivers through the darkness and you are able to pick up the dimensions of the cave through their glow.

After you exit the caves you have a short float down the Nile River to catch the train and make your way back to town. Now, both you Idahoans and Montanans and all of the other people we grew up with share the same concept of ‘floating’. It’s comprised of hot days, some rapids, some slow relaxing parts and of course, enjoying and not spilling your beer. It was quite funny listening to the tour guide explain to us how to safely float down the river (an approximate 10 minute ride). We bit our tongues and both reflected on float trip memories back home and how this one couldn’t ever stack up to the floating trips from our past. Fun nonetheless and glad that we know are educated in the world of the glow-worm.

Once we reached the adventureship we were off to Karamea, the northernmost settlement on the west coast (south island). Karamea is a small farming community with south west access to the Heaphy track - a popular 4 day tramp through the Kahurangi National Park to Golden Bay. We arrived at the campsite at the base of the track with enough daylight left to pitch the tent. Waking up the next morning eager to hit the track, we had our first real encounter with the widely condemned sand fly (yeah I know you’re thinking flies, not as bad as mosquito’s right? But these little things swarm like mosquitoes and keep biting you relentlessly).

Between the tent and the rain fly, hundreds of sand flies bopped around looking for the chance to break through and eat us alive. We cunningly came up with a plan to escape and once we did, a short tramp to Scott’s beach was on the agenda. The vegetation on the west coast varies drastically from the east and north parts of the south island we have visited. Everything is very damp, mossy and very dense. Similar to what you would see in Olympic National Park. It was beautiful as was the coastline and we enjoyed spending the day outside yet again, exploring new territory.

We made our way back to Nelson just in time to enjoy a classic Kiwi Sunday roast with our flat mate and his mates. A fabulous way to end a great weekend.

The next couple weeks will bring us Shannon’s new job, starting to prep for the 3 week trip to the states and some time in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds.

Cheers,
John and Shannon

Final Party’s and Abel Tasman Take II

Separation Point, Abel Tasman

New Zealand Silver Fern

RWC aftermath

We were happy to see the week after the final match that NZ was in fact still standing and New Zealanders were in fact able to keep living life knowing that the AB’s had taken the cup. We were also excited to move forward, past RWC to continue experiencing all of the other amazing things NZ has to offer us - besides rugby.

Of course we had to have a proper ‘It’s Finally Over Party’ with the council RWC crew (any excuse for a party right). We spent our Friday night enjoying some fabulous company, great food, beer, wine and games. My personal favorite was ‘pass the parcel’ where you stand in a circle and pass a wrapped package round and round until the music stops. Whoever has the parcel when the music stops peels off a layer of wrapping, then, the music starts again and you repeat this until the final layer of wrapping is removed and the gift revealed. Supposedly it’s a childhood game that kiwis play during birthday parties and at Christmas time. Sure, it sounds pretty generic, but get a group of adults full of booze and you can imagine the game takes on a whole new level of excitement. Beware Sanden family…John and I may be bringing this tradition home for Christmas. Thanks again to Don and Angela (some fellow Americans, mentioned in previous blog for some USA decorating shenanigans) for hosting a great party, a fine way to say farewell to the RWC.

Market time

Of course everyone looks forward to weekends, but here in Nelson there’s something to look forward to every Wednesday as well. The farmers market at Fashion Island (the ‘shopping centre’ in CBD). This is one of three weekly markets in Nelson and the second best. We usually end up using Wednesday as an ‘eat out’ day for lunch and enjoy some amazing wraps from the wrap shack or some killer German sausages from another local vendor. You can also pick up fresh fruits and veggies…a win win place to be mid week.

our staple apple / nashi stand

Another market related everyday occurrence in the Nelson/Tasman region is the roadside fruit stand that we often frequent on our way to Golden Bay. How could you go wrong with a huge $4 bag of apples? We’ve mentioned this place previously but I took some shots on our way up to Golden Bay last weekend to share with all of you. Imagine if we had these fresh fruits available on the side of the road in the states, and for so cheap (relatively)…yes please.

John continued playing basketball with the Kiwi’s and started an open gym league after finishing a men’s league. The rules are a little different, utilizing a 24 sec shot clock. The game is a lot more “run and gun” and less structured then what I am used to back in the States. It’s a lot of fun and good to get back into playing weekly again.

Wainui Bay, Golden Bay 

Our weekend trip to the Golden Bay area, North West of Nelson took us to Takaka (the Nelsonian described hippie town). It’s small, maybe around 2,000 people, but nonetheless a good place to explore. We stopped into a place that we have been reading about called the Dangerous Kitchen. It was a great
meal with a healthy pizza and pasta made with all fresh and local ingredients. Of course us being us, we asked for some hot sauce to go with our meal and out came the best hot sauce we have found in NZ so far. It was spicy enough upfront, with raisiny and citrus fruit notes, a full round chunkiness, not thin and watery, and a lingering heat but not overbearing. As you can see we take our hot sauce seriously and describe it like a fine craft brew or wine. It was made by a local and a few days later we contacted him for a rigger (2 liter) plastic jug of the stuff. Being in rural NZ, of course our hot sauce maker was dressed in traditional Kiwi garb. Tattered button up shirt with a wool over shirt, nut-hugger high-cut jean shorts that take you back to the 80’s and of course gum boots, classic Kiwi for sure.

We booked a lodge to stay at for the weekend in Pohara - a beach community about 20 minutes outside of Takaka. Pohara is a quaint little town supposedly known for its penguins (which we never saw and we don’t believe they exist) if you blink an eye while passing through the town there’s a good chance you’ll miss it. We did, and after a phone call to the Lodge owner and a prompt U-turn we were back on track to enjoying our weekend. If anyone reading this has ever thought about looking into the accommodation industry as a business endeavor, I highly recommend flying to NZ and booking a stay at the Ratanui Lodge in Pohara, Golden Bay. Steven (the owner) who happens to be American was the first person to greet us when we walked through the door and the person waving farewell when we checked out. However, it’s the hospitality we experienced throughout our stay that makes this place so special. Upon entering your room, a hand written note with a personalized welcome for the weekend, breakfast each morning family style with the other guests and a real genuine interest in helping you decide what to explore while in the area are a few of the things that set this place apart. (Glee, I thought of you on our way home from this weekend…you would do so amazing with something like this…Lake Tahoe retreat?? A-holes?? -We may need to re-think the name- Think about it, I’ll bring the finger streaks and chili bombs).

Into the park...
Although neither of us would have complained if we stayed at the lodge and beach area the whole weekend, we had bigger plans. Golden bay sits at the northern end of Abel Tasman which happens to be the part of the Abel coastal track we hadn’t explored yet. We set off Saturday morning for a nice tramp through the bush headed toward Separation Point.
Separation Point is a 9K trek from the trailhead and beautiful the whole way through – of course, we’re in NZ! Birds (which for some reason I’m obsessed with photographing – John loves this), beach, ferns, the ocean…these are the reasons why we’re here.

My buddy, the Weka

NZ Thrush

Quail - very un-afraid of people

As we sat on the rocks at Separation point, eating our lunch, watching the seals play in the water (yes Jim, seals, from a seal colony), we took a deep breath and realized how fortunate we are to be here. We hope you enjoy the photos…they don’t do this place justice. We took our time heading back, and besides a random déjà vu encounter (too long to explain) we enjoyed leisurely making our way back to the Adventureship and back to the fabulous Ratanui lodge. 

The next morning we headed off for another quick trek before making our way back home – the Wainui waterfall is a quick 30 minute walk in through the bush to reveal a beautiful 50 ft waterfall. A great way to end our weekend in the Golden Bay area, another trip we won’t soon forget.

That was it for the weekend and once back in Nelson we planned for another week at work and of course planning our next trip…so what’s coming up? The freehouse, American dinner, pizza, grid iron, basketball, roast, West Coast and some new jobs… I know, you can’t wait!

Cheers,

John and Shannon

For those who aren't up to speed...results of the RWC FINAL! And some other stuff...

The view from our room

A new opportunity for Shannon at Council had her focused intently on what it would take for Nelson to deliver 4 matches of FIFA (Federation Internationale Football Association) U20 tournament games in 2015 - NZ won the bid to host the cup. If anyone would have asked me what I would be doing for work in NZ, I can tell you that budgeting for sports tournaments would not have been at the top of my list. However, after experiencing all that went into RWC in Nelson, I have gained a huge appreciation for everything it takes to deliver these events…yes, right down to the budget – the foundation. That piece of work kept me busy well into Friday afternoon, and then, the weekend was once again upon us.

We headed over to Kat and Jeff’s for a good old Kiwi barbie with the crew. It was delicious and relaxing…eating delicious food as the sun went down, looking over Tasman Bay from the huge patio at the house we used to call home. It was a potluck of sorts where everyone brought some protein for the grill and a side; we had plenty of great food. On the agenda for the evening, Sola Rosa, a concert put on for the Nelson Arts Festival. After a beer at Founders brewery, we headed into the large tent for some fabulous local music and dancing. The band was great and in typical Kiwi style incorporated an infusion of different styles and rhythms. It ended up being an early night for us as the rest of the weekend was jam packed with what else but Rugby. We didn’t want to burn out on the first night!

The Semi Finals were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday evening. Taking advantage of the large flat screen in our living room, we watched both matches at home – enjoying the fact that a beer from the fridge is only $3 as opposed to the $10 you would expect to spend at any of the pubs in town. Wales was robbed of a win by France with a horrible call from the match official – forcing them to play one man down for most of the match. I guess you can’t body slam people in this gladiator sport, the ref thought he went just a little too far. Anyone who knows the history of NZ Rugby, as we most notably do now, knows there’s a large amount of animosity between the All Blacks and the French team, needless to say, there weren’t many Kiwis stoked on the match result with France making it to the final. The big one on Sunday night, Aussie v NZ was the match to see. Having seen these teams play each other twice since we’ve been here (one NZ win, one Aussie win) we were at the edge of our seat. Thankfully the All Blacks pulled through and cemented their place in the final match…France v New Zealand.

No one could really do anything the week prior to the final, except, wait for the final. It seemed that’s all that was on the news, people’s minds, and every conversation... especially with one of the NZ star players out, you could feel the nerves of the Kiwis across NZ. So, basically, we worked, we got through the week and began a huge weekend – One that will go down in NZ history.

One of the best things about this three day weekend (Labour Day was Monday) is that we had the house all to ourselves. With the roommate out with his buddies for the weekend we could actually make the
place feel a little more like our home. With a fresh bottle of vino in hand (okay 2), we proceeded to make a pretty spectacular scallop dish. After dinner we headed down to CBD to experience another part of the amazing Nelson Arts Festival.

Piki Mai is a digital art installation that projects moving imagery upon the Cathedral in the centre of town. It was incredible. The photos we took don’t do the work justice, but at least you can get an idea of some of the vivid colors that painted the church steps. It was the best thing for the price since we’ve been in NZ because it was free, a concept not widely practiced here.

yeah, pretty sweet

Saturday night we had the first night of Oktobeerfest for John. It was at the only German restaurant in Nelson and the owners and head chef are from Germany. They make authentic German food and have some delicious Hofbräu beer imported along with some from the brewery I work for. I was the event coordinator for the 2 weekend event and we had stein-lifting (Men’s and Women’s) and a German costume contest every night. It went well the first weekend and I got another Schwein Haux’n (Pork Shank) and Hofbräu Weizen for dinner, delicious every time.

Sunday night was the big night, the RWC2011 Final, NZ v France. We decided to watch the match at the Fanzone on a huge screen at upper Trafalgar Street, in front of the cathedral with 5,000 All Black fans.

The energy was incredible, and the game was intense. It went a lot differently then how the media predicted it. You could tell both teams were very nervous and didn’t want to be the ones to ruin it for their respective country. It was a defensive back and forth battle with a lot of bloody faces. NZ scored the only try of the game and the conversion was missed. The replacement of the previously mentioned All Black went down with a knee injury and in came a player who hadn’t even been asked to accompany the team into the RWC. He came in the game and drilled a penalty kick, which ended up being the game winner. The guy was “white-bait” fishing when he got the call a week before the Final. Whitebait fishing is like Steelhead, Kokanee and fly hatch season all wrapped up into one in this country. They stay in huts by their section of the river and put out nets to catch these sardine looking minnows in huge schools. The season lasts for a few months and some of the veteran fisherman can walk away with approx 30K in profit. I’ve had a whitebait patty as they cook up the fish and it’s nothing to write home about, so that's all you're going to get.

The date of the final was planned perfectly with Monday being a holiday and the whole day was spent relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. With the RWC matches officially over and Spring upon us, we look forward to spending the next month tramping around and enjoying some weekend trips. Stay tuned to see where the Adventureship will take us next! West Coast, Able Tasman, Marlborough Sounds and more.

Cheers,

John and Shannon

Tahuna Beach...10 minute walk from home