Advertisement
Published: October 16th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Where did we leave off? I believe it was at the farm where we parked for the night. So the next morning we enjoyed some hot showers, packed up Lucy in the Sky and started driving out Kenburu Sounds. I recently had gotten a job out at a resort and had told my boss that I would drop in for a visit. When I said this I did know that this place was out of the way and was ready for it, or so I thought. It was Raphaels day to drive so here we were manouvering around endless sharp turns and an uncomfortable speed with incredible views of the sounds with incredible drop offs into the sounds. Lets just say that I held on tight and bit my lip (well most of the time).
After a time that seemed to take years (it was maybe 45km) we arrived at The Portage Resort. So I met up with my new boss who showed me around the place and explained many things that I guess I needed to know. But more importantly he gave us some free coffee and free food. With our bellies full we started back out the road
(much worse of a ride with a full stomach). The rain started and just kept getting worse as we continued driving. We decided to drive to Nelson with the idea that it was a city and would likely have many more offerings for us. We enjoyed some good food and some beers in Nelson as the rain fell. Our spirits were falling too, as we realized that we hadn accomplished much on this trip so far. With our spirits low we wandered around town. We met a very helpful lady at an arts and craft store who gave us lots of advice on things. The most important being a lead on a hot location to park the van for free, trouble free. We took her advice and parked just a few blocks away from downtown and went to enjoy some beers. We met my friend Denise for a drink but had an early night.
I awoke the next morning with a desperate need for a toilet. As we had parked on a residential street there was a lack of facilities. So into the drivers seat and across town I went rather briskly. It was a rude awakening for Raphael
who was still trying to sleep in the back. After that was all sorted, we grabbed some coffees and drove to a little place out of Nelson.
The sun was shining and we had wanted to do some quad biking, as Ralph had never driven one before. We found ourselves on a farm watching a dog herd cattle up the street (yep the street) and getting signed up to drive some quads. They put us onto bikes straight away and in no time we were speeding through the hills. We made a few stops along the way to view a few things. We had a little picnic with a beautiful view of the Tasman Sea. We spun and swerved our way back down the hill and back to the lodge. It was just past 11 am and we were in the van and driving towards the Abel Tasman National Park with hopes that the weather would hold on for one more day so we could go kayaking.
We got some food at an outdoor cafe and visited a little working artist community. This was a hippie place with lots of wood carvings, paintings, a resident blacksmith and just
a lot of random artwork. I really enjoyed walking through this place, the bearded and dreadlocked people were scorching metals for sculptures and there were lots of little things to take notice too. After that we found a campground to park for the night. We had a bbq and drank some beers. We played some guitar and met some really cool people. The rain started after dinner and poured all night. The next morning it was still raining, our kayak plans ruined by the weather. Anger was the emotion that morning. We packed up the van and drove in hopes of finding some sunshine and enjoy some outdoors.
We drove to Golden Bay about one hour away, and found it had some sunshine. Then to Farewill Spit to see a beach and the sands of the Farewell Spit (through binoculars). We had a good day of driving around viewing as many sights as we could. We arrived back into a little town (its a hippie town too called Takaka) and after pricing campground sites I realized for a few bucks more I might splurge and stay at a hostel. After living in a van with all this rainy weather,
I just wanted to sleep in a real bed for a night. I did need to do laundry and charge up my camera and such. So I took the night off from Lucy in the Sky. So Ralphy and Lucy in the Sky left me to myself. Now don get me wrong here, I do enjoy the campervan. It is so nice to slide the door open in the morning and have a beautiful view with the sound of the birds above. All this rain has been trying to dampen our trip (in multiple ways). So now I am clean, well rested and with a pack full of clean clothing. Ready to keep moving. Oh yeah it is another rainy day. Imagine that....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.052s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 16; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0288s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Melissa
non-member comment
Blue Cheese !
Soooo, you e all nice and clean and Princess is now smelling like a wheel of blue cheese ! Just as we predicted !! Classic ! Shit about the weather but Im sure you two are having a good time ! We miss you tonnes and entertain ourselves by singing Man in the Mirror and Stand by Me ! Ohh and eating chocolate fish ! If you get too sad with all the rain, go and find a chocolate fish and some cinnamon rolls and stick them ....IN YOUR MOUTH !! xxxx