Nelson Lakes National Park and a Golden Bay Birthday

The beginning of our week was consumed with work; and in our free time searching Trade me (NZ Craigslist) for a new flat. Luckily by Wednesday we found a place to call our own...a small flat near the river that runs through town; 1 bedroom, 1 bath and a nice little backyard equipped with a barbie and garden. Although the place is up for sale, we're hoping that no serious buyers come through anytime soon. It would be nice to be stationary for awhile.

Friday we took full advantage of our day off and headed over to Nelson Lakes National Park. The drive in was beautiful and not only were we anxious to see the lakes, since we were rising in altitude, we knew there would be snow around...sure enough, we encountered our first New Zealand snow.

Our first stop was the Tophouse Historic Hotel. The Tophouse has quite a history and we won't detail everything dating back to the 1800's (click on the link if you wish...actually quite interesting), but it is important to note that the Tophouse claims to have New Zealand's smallest bar - built in 1926. Seeing as it was only our first stop, and before noon, we opted to have a press of coffee to start our day rather than partaking in a glass of beer or wine. The hotel is filled with beautiful antiques, and in the back of the building you can see parts of the original walls that were built in the 1800's. Guests can still stay at the hotel or simply pop in for tea time, lunch, beverages or three course dinners that the staff prepares for you as you sit by the fire, or relax on the patio in summer time. A place we're sure to visit again, on our way into and out of the park.

After awhile, we decided it was time to get on with our day, and after some nice Kiwis helped us get the Adventureship unstuck from the snow bank it was parked in, we were on our way....how we both wish we would've had our 4WD vehicles handy.

Now we feel it's only fair to warn you, these photos are quite beautiful and do not even do the park justice, but you may still feel inclined to purchase a plane ticket immediately and visit us in NZ. If so, we will support your decision 100%, and look forward to seeing you. Note...if a photo is too small to see, you can click on it and it will open larger in another browser window.

Lake Rotoroa

Lake Rotoroa was our first stop and immediately upon driving up, reminded John very much of areas in Glacier. As a matter of fact, this wasn't the only reference to scenery back home on this day. Both of us found much of the drive and lake views very similar to what you would find in Montana, Idaho or Washington. It was nice being reminded of home. Being that it was zero degrees, and we weren't properly dressed to tramp around in the snow, we had fun throwing snowballs at each other, taking photos and discussing the tramps we would be taking once the weather warms up a bit. Here's a selection from the photo catalogue...

Question...when you're trying to capture an action shot where it looks like you're throwing a snowball, aren't you in fact posing for the camera? See John, not being super athletic (or familiar with a ball throwing stance), my pose is just a little different than yours.

Another very cool part of this specific National Park is the DOC (Department of Conservation) is working on a program to reintroduce Kiwi birds to the area. Most have been driven out by over hunting over the years or predators. They now have a predator free zone where they are focusing on building kiwi numbers in a safe environment. Since these little critters are nocturnal and mostly habitate the southern part of the island, we have yet to see one in the wild...hopes are still high.

A short drive later, we arrived at...

Lake Rotoiti

Just as beautiful as the first, yet less snow, Rotoiti is the smaller of the two main lakes. A nice camping area and plenty of birds to photograph, we will count this as another destination once the weather warms.

Birds seen above from top left: Black Swans, NZ Sparrow, Pukekos

All in all, a pretty amazing day. We left the park excited about the opportunity to come back and plan a three day tramp into and around the lakes. Looking forward to warmer weather!

Seeing as it was our last weekend working at the hostel, we laid pretty low. Sushi dinner with Kat and movie watching including some real classics; Casablanca, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Invictus and finally, Kung Fu Panda.

Tuesday brought the first day on the new job for Shannon, which proved to be very invigorating...being in an environment more inline with what I'm accustomed to. The team within city council working on the RWC2011 project are a great bunch of people. Tons of energy, lots to do and the main focus is on getting things done...reminds me of my Messengerland people in Seattle - miss you all! By Wednesday the Adventureship was packed (again) and ready to take us to our new home (again). Our little home is situated on Nile Street, close to the river that runs through town. A nice path stretches along the river, up into the hills above town (which we utilize as our running path), all the way down past the city council building to the waterfront. With a close proximity to everything we need, it has turned out to be a very convenient location. John has been picking up more hours at Bays and has been put in charge of planning events all the way to Sept and Oct; a New Zealand Oktoberfest for one should be a fun experience.

Additional contributions always welcome...

GIFT PACK DAY from the Barz family started us off on the right track this week – Mama Barz and Daddio sure did come through! The biggie – Neutrogena makeup that 1. you can’t find here, and 2. even if you could would be so expensive you wouldn’t buy it anyways. Also making its way from the states…goldfish crackers - parmesan flavored of course, as well as gummi worms, gum and altoids. One thing missing – the beef jerky…damn ministry. And the gifts just kept coming...Thursday was GIFT PACK DAY from the Sanden family. There were a lot of John’s favorites including homemade choc/peanut cookies; Mama Sanden’s amazing homemade Raspberry Jam (which will go very quickly), some sunflower seeds, gummi worms, enough vitamins to supply a small army, an iPod adaptor that will come in handy for long road trips on our free weekends, and lastly (for the second time) the Jerky didn’t make it through customs. I guess they have a problem with dried meat that is sourced from certain countries, pretty weak if you ask me, what a bunch of bloody wankers. They said they destroyed the Jerky or conveniently have Shannon’s and John’s Jerky just chilling in their building, probably eaten by now. So if anyone can find some Jerky that is not partially sourced from Uruguay, let us know I guess, Wankers. Thanks for sending the gifts they have and will come in handy and are much appreciated.

And the weekend begins…

Friday was celebration day numero uno for Shannon’s birthday - John picked me up from work with a beautiful bouquet of tiger lilies and chocolates in hand, we headed home for more surprises...a maori carved mother of pearl necklace and tickets to see Bridesmaids (A movie that has been on the debatable date movie list for quite awhile ;)  Then it was of to the old flatmates house for an excellent dinner with friends and some kiwi family. Lovely gifts from Kat and Jeff (a beautiful Tui bird ceramic bowl) and yummy dessert from Erin (Lindor Truffles!) We went out for practically the first night since we’ve been in New Zealand. Lots of riggers and champagne during dinner and drinks and jugs (small pitchers of beer) at Baby G's led to Shannon doing the most special cartwheel anyone has ever done. I talked her down from doing a full out floor slide, which was good for everyone. Saturday brought hangover/amazing breakfast burritos/outstanding trip to Golden Bay day. We have enough pictures to supply you with every detail needed.

Top of Takaka Hill

The drive into Golden Bay was amazing; over the Takaka hill (a view from middle earth) you can see for miles. Once you pass the summit and make your way down toward the valley floor you pass large jagged rocks cut out of the countryside. It looks over green and white Mountain ranges to the West and blue Ocean and sandy beaches to the North. There are only 4,000 people in this area called Golden Bay between the Takaka Pass through the town of Takaka and the next town Collingwood, where we stayed a little North of in a cottage by the beach.

First stop...Anatoki Salmon. Now, let me start with a disclaimer: Daddio, I know this is not proper salmon fishing, but I hope you can appreciate that we were a tid bit hungover and the whole idea was so rediculously hilarious that we couldn't resist. Now that we have that taken care of, Anatoki is a fish hatchery set up as a tourist trap. Basically, in six easy steps, you catch a salmon in their salmon pond and have it processed right in front of you however you like (i.e. smoked, cut into filets or steaks, sashimi style, etc) We documented the process via photos for you to enjoy...

Step 1: Cast the line

Step 2: Smile and wait

Step 3: Hook the catch

Step 4: Net the catch

Step 5: Show off the catch

Step 6: Eat the catch

After all that "hard work" we enjoyed half our catch at the cafe...as you can see I couldn't even get a photo before we both dug in, and the rest was saved for our dinner later that night.

We rented a cottage right on the water for the night and settled in for a delicious dinner (scallop & smoked salmon fettucini with fresh veggies and manuka honey/spicy garlic sauce) accompanied by some wonderful bottles of wine (our favorite of which was a sparkling Pinot Noir by Brancott Estates).

We woke up refreshed and ready to do some tramping on Sunday. Before we left however, we went on a hunt for some cockles (clams) that we heard were in abundance of the beach outside our cottage. The people were right and we found about 100 at low tide, which we would have for dinner later that night. 

We then headed further North to the Farewell Spit, a 25 K or about 40 mile sand spit for you Yanks. The spit is the Northern most point of the South Island. It's said that thousands of birds migrate there from the Northern Hemisphere and the only way you could gain access was by private tour, so of course, we decided to walk down the beach anyway. We climbed on top of some hills looking out all over the Golden Bay, the Farewell Spit, Takaka Pass, and South down the coast almost all the way to Nelson. Shannon found her fair share of not so friendly sheep on our tramp. Their form of aggression is urinating if you get too close... disgusting. We were able to get some good photos anyways, for those of you who were curious about what a NZ sheep looks like... pretty much like any other sheep you've ever seen, just more of them.

On our way back to Nelson we stopped in at Pupu springs, some of the purest water in the world that rises out of the Earth and starts a river. This spring holds a lot of religious value to the native Maori and no one can swim in the waters, which at about 40 degrees we decided not to. Although I'm sure on a hot day we may have tested our luck. After that we headed back over the pass and back to Nelson, not before we stopped again at the Happy Chippie in Motueka for some quality fish and chips.

A wonderful weekend, and so far our favorite place that we've visited in NZ. We arrived back in Nelson to our new home where the lilly bouquet continued to bloom while we were away :)

Stay tuned...next of couple weeks are sure to bring some fun adventures!