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Published: January 4th 2011
Day 10: The long drive up the west coast: pancake rocks, night stars, and river crossings
We left to be “On the road again” (which must be at least be a bit of our trip theme song) around 10am to drive up the second half of the west coast to Nelson. Today’s drive was absolutely stunning. Several more ‘Camera Fire Drills’ ensued as we made our way from the jungle landscape in the glacier region to the beaches near greymouth, punakaki, and others. We stopped along some beaches for pictures, some impressive swell recordings, rock digging, running, and simply admiring landscape. At one point we ran across some towering rock formations out in the beach, standing up courageously to the battering waves. We finally made it to Punakaki to the famous pancake rocks and blow holes by mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, the tide was ’right’ for their impressive blowing and steaming around ten in the morning. So our ears and eyes were instead treated only to the wave carved rocks, surge pools, birdsong, and flora. Life is hard in the Southern Hemisphere. Instead of responsibly hitting the road and getting to our next accommodation at a reasonable hour, we decided to do
a 7 km hike to some beach caves by the Fox River. Unfortunately we had some problems finding our trail. Fortunately, we had an amazing hike with some fun river crossings and the most pure, unspoiled nature sounds so far. Also of good luck, our hosts at our next accommodation waited up for us.
Our accommodation in Nelson is this beautiful mansion - outside an Italian Riviera feel and inside straight from a royal trading era. Super elegant bathrooms, comfy beds, clean kitchen, and a café deck to look at the night sky. Even better, this golden egg was at a backpackers budget price!
Until tomorrow’s adventures…
Day 11: Paddling Abel Tasman… Birdsong, Sunshine, and Waves
Once again early we arose to head off to Abel Tasman National Park for Sea Kayaking around the Tonga Island Marine Reserve. They outfitted us with some fairly decent double kayaks and breakfast biscuits, and then they sent us on our way with our guide, Kate. The sun was shining, the water colors were brilliant, the breeze perfect. It is remarkable that in 6 short hours of driving we had gone from a freezing glacier to a brilliantly hot beach-land.
This country is like a kaleidoscope: whenever you move it, the view changes, but it is always beautiful. Anyway, we were able to get about 10-15 meters from the seals on the island and watch the males screech to claim their territory and the young ones cry as they goofily slipped off the rocks. After lunch, we hiked from bark bay to torrent bay and were again greeted with bell bird melodies, and other whistles and such.
Until tomorrow’s Adventures…
Day 12: Music Giants, and the Traverse From One Sea Town to Another, Nelson à Kaikoura
Today we had the extraordinary opportunity to meet Brian Flintoff, a masterful carver and Maori Instrument Maker. We met him at his studio, which is situated on a peninsula in Nelson right on the tidal beach. In just the hours time we were there the tide had risen to just a meter or two shy of his front lawn. What a lovely place. Anyways, Brian showed us around his studio, and walked us through many of his carvings and instruments. He explained a lot of the significance behind the various carving patterns, faces, and pictures he depicts in his work.
One of the instruments, which really struck me was a flute which had an opening at both end. The front end(the one blown into) had a single face and single nose carved into it, the other end had two noses carved into it symbol sizing that in order for the instrument to breath and sing your breath must be shared with the ‘instrument’s breath’ to create music. It is a sacred traditional Maori greeting to greet one another nose to nose, not to touch faces butt to share breath. Breath is a central part of Maori tradition. We got to see some of Brian’s own unique adaptations of the instruments, and here his story on how he got started with Maori music. Evan was a rock star today, compared to the beginning of the trip at least, at trying his hand at playing some of the flutes. Evan left with a bird chirper stone, a source of much entertainment for the rest of the day.
Next, we were able to catch Richard Nunns, a musician who plays these beautiful instruments and he gave us some unique advice and information on soundscaping. He told us his story, an about some
of the projects he’s working on which should be quite remarkable when they are finished.
Nelson, the city we were staying in and which was quite dormant at night, lit up this morning with some interesting street performers, vendors, and open air cafés. We found a used CD shop, and of course I left four Cds richer and sixteen dollars poorer. It was well worth it, to discover some new blues, West Indies, and jazz performers. After trying some local coffee, we stumbled around town for some city sounds aping and sat in on a few minutes of the Nelson Jazz Festival. We lucked into finding the most delicious locally grown plums, which proved a worthy snack for our 3 hour drive later this evening.
Dinner tonight was Thai cuisine, followed by live acoustic blues music at a local pub. An incredible day of learning and exploring if you ask me.
Until tomorrow’s adventures…
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
On the road again
Loved the kayak photo. Sounds like you are having an adventure!