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Published: June 17th 2011
There is quite a lot of ground for us to cover in the Nelson area. We are staying at a small cabin on an estuary near the town of Mapua.
I woke up early and thought about getting a bit of work done on the computer, when I cracked upon the drapes the scene was utterly breathtaking. The pink of the sunrise was glowing over the bluff across the water in front of our cabin. The color range from yellow on the horizon, fading to pink then hues of light purple reflected in the water. As beautiful as the photos posted are, they pale in comparison to the actual view. Suzy was rousted early to enjoy the view as well.
At high tide, Geddy & Ivy took out the kayak and explored the estuary for an hour or so. They went out quite a way and at one point were nearly out of view. The water is surrounded by orchards and vineyards on our side of the bay and some lightly wooded forest across the way. Even after a bit more than an hour, the tide had recessed at least 20 meters from the point at which the kids
had launched. They came back and reported that the entire estuary is less than 4-6 feet deep, nearly all the way across. At low tide, the whole thing practically drains. There are little inlets up the coast like this. The tide varies as much as 15 feet from low to high and makes for tricky navigation for boat captains.
After lunch, we headed into Motueka to go visit the I-Spot and come up with a plan for the next couple of days. We visited with an exceedingly nice woman who was tremendously helpful. Theo played in a kids area while the older two shopped around town. Since the weather was to be nice the next two days and then questionable, we decided to book a couple of water outings.
One of the top of the things on our New Zealand list prior to arriving was to kayak and hike in the Abel Tasman National Park. We were disappointed to learn that the minimum kayaking age from the launches on the south end (where we are staying) is 14. Fortunately, we had an option to drive about 2 hours to Golden Bay and launch from the north. We booked
this trip for the next day and then booked a boat ride to tour the coastline of the park before being dropped off for a 2-3 hour hike. The boat acts a combination water taxi and tour boat.
On the advice from our helpful I-Spot guide, we stopped for a walk at the Motueka Sandspit on the Raumanuka Scenic Reserve. The tide was out, so this was a spot where the water had receded a good quarter mile out. We walked on the trail for a bit before opting for the sand and rocks. Eventually we found a cement walkway, about three feet across that encased an old drainage pipe of some sort that was pretty clearly out of commission and quite dated. The protrusion extended nearly to the waterline. We walked along it until we started seeing lots of colorful rocks and tide pools. This area was a bird-watchers delight.
On the way back, we stopped at the Mapua Wharf. Most of the stores were already closed, but we checked on little Touch the Sea Aquarium. This was another recommendation that we were following up on. You had to go through a gift shop to get to
it, so our hopes weren't very high for it. It turned out to be hidden gem. The kids got to touch/pet a couple different kids of sharks, rays, eels and other fish. At their urging, I touched a very slimy feeling eel and a sand-paper like nurse shark. They also had some very active octopi.
We got back to the cabin to enjoy sunset and Theo took advantage of one of our cabin's amenities - a bathtub on the porch with a view of the water! Living the dream, baby.
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