Thursday, April 1st This morning we went tramping in the Okura Estuary Reserve. As we crossed the bridge spanning the Okura River Talita spotted a couple Flounder swimming around and feeding on the muddy river bed. It was our first time seeing these guys alive and we were quite impressed by their elegant movement. Across the river we followed a beautiful track through the forest and got a good look at another Eastern Rosella. They seem to be very shy birds and we've yet to see one up close. The track wound up and down a few hills and every now and then there were info on one tree or another. We learned how to identify three trees; the Kauri, the Totara and the Rata. Three seemed to be the maximum our brains could handle because ... read more

Friday, March 26th We slept till just after 9am, had a shower, then Graeme showed us how Weetbix are supposed to be consumed; you mash a banana and add it to the Weetbix and milk mixture before covering the whole lot with condensed milk. It was absolutely amazing and will probably get us in trouble in future. Lois was still attending to the birth so we three enjoyed a few cups of tea before taking little Midge (their rock loving little poochie) for a walk. After the walk it was time for us to get moving. We wanted to be in Auckland by Saturday afternoon, so we had some miles to go before calling it a day. Before we left Graeme gave us a 12v car battery so that the Boesman could have a separate power ... read more

Saturday, March 20th We woke somewhere in the dark hours of the night to the sound of ripping paper. Luki had found Talita's book and was destroying it in an obvious demand for food and/or attention. Talita put the book away, but since we were up Luki had no intention of letting us go back to sleep. Eventually we put her out of the room and shut the door. The rest of the night went without incident and we slept well. We've not had the opportunity to just veg out in front of the TV or have a long hot bath in many many moons, so after cleaning the kitchen we had that bath, then made ourselves comfy on the couch and spent the entire day watching Scrubs episodes. For dinner we cooked a yummy mushroom ... read more

Sunday, March 14th Doug and Karen are passionate outdoorsmen. They have five kayaks, eleven bicycles and an insatiable appetite for adventure and the outdoors. After a delicious fruit, muesli and yogurt breakfast Doug and Talita packed a cooler full of snacks and water, we loaded two ocean kayaks on Doug's truck, then set off for Cable Bay, a half hour's drive to the north. Because Karen was working night-shift she was sleeping and unfortunately couldn't join us. At the bay we got the double kayak. It was our first time using a rudder while paddling and we were amazed at how easily a kayak turns when it has a rudder. We'd also forgotten how easy it is to paddle with double paddles (lately we've only used the single paddles in our canoe) and we flew through ... read more

Monday, March 8th Even though our campsite was right next to the noisy main road into Motueka we slept like babies. We left the camp site just after 10am, filled up with fuel and got a few supplies. The Boesman's battery wasn't keeping its charge as much as we'd like, and upon inspection we found that the cells could do with a top-up of distilled water. It took some contortioning to get to the battery, but we managed. We just hope it did the trick. After leaving Motueka we headed up and over Takaka Hill. Near the top we stopped and took a short hike to a viewing point looking over the valley and out into Tasman Bay. Close by are the Ngarua Caves, but they charge for entry so we gave it a skip. Near ... read more