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Published: January 22nd 2008
Interislander Ferry
Mark can't stay inside when there is water out there!The South Island trip began as soon as we dropped our family off at the Airport on the afternoon of Dec 23. We briefly returned home for last minute checks and to load our bags into the rental van. A long drive took us to our stopover in Levin, known for being a stopover. A train runs through there too. We slept late and offended the hotel maid by being late for check out on Christmas Eve - fair enough. I had gone out to get ice for our chilly bins (ice chests). On return, my family and the bags were sitting on the sidewalk. The maid helped by carrying out the bags for our slow moving tribe. (Sarah - We had driven 7 hours the day before. Coming through the Tongariro Range just south of Taupo was funky! We had Mt. Whakapapa and Mt. Ruapehu on our right and the Kaimanawa Mountains to our left. We were at some altitude and dusk began to settle in. We were driving though storm clouds and setting sun which made the lighting very creepy. This road also travels through what would be considered the NZ desert. This is where the Army practices their
Interislander Ferry
We stayed warm and dry inside field manuvers so there are signs all over warning you to stay on the road. Like I EVER want to leave the road! Anyway, that experience and the fact that this was our first long drive at night was making my arm start to twitch a little. We were all very glad to get to our bed that night!) The Afternoon of Christmas Eve, we crossed the Cook Straight on the InterIslander Ferry from Wellington to Picton. We all like a boat ride so this was fun for us. This is known as one of the most beautiful ferry crossings in the world. I agree with that statement even with the dodgy weather we were experiencing. The Cook Straight can be nasty. The Southern Ocean swells and currents via the unimpeded Tasman Sea squeeze through a relatively narrow channel. On this day the wind was blowing 25 plus knots with gusts making it difficult to stand on deck at times. This large ship listed a little during the entire trip. The mountainous terrain of Picton was beautiful. (Sarah - Mark spent the whole trip out on the deck. I tried to join him because I knew that was what I
was supposed to do on a ferry, but I couldn’t stay out long. I think the kids and I were in a state of delirium.) Offloaded from the ferry, we proceeded on to our destination for the Christmas Holiday, Motueka. As we discovered with most small towns in NZ, this is a sleepy little place. Our accommodations were small, but nice including nice artwork and landscaping. Motueka is situated on the coast, just East of the Abel Tasman National Park. This large area of coast line exposes a large tidal flat with low tide. It is know for its bird sanctuary and seal colonies among other things. We barely managed a walk the first day. Prior preparations by Sarah and ongoing effort by Grace resulted in getting the household right for Christmas. We did not have room for a proper Christmas tree, but made do with Grace’s selection of a piece of driftwood. There was no chimney for Santa, but a sliding glass door was adjacent to our tree.
We awoke to a lovely morning on Christmas day. It is very strange for us to celebrate Christmas in a warm climate far away from friends and family. I think
the day was bittersweet for all of us. We are thankful for the intimacy of celebration with the immediate family, but missing the family traditions normally experienced during the holidays. We missed our church and church family very much. Gift exchange occurred shortly after awakening. I can not remember any Christmas that I more was excited about receiving a pair of socks. We were all grateful. Unfortunately, the Nike.com Santa sent the wrong size tennis socks to Sarah (mens size 12-15). Ben, who no longer wears socks, now has six pair. Sarah pulled together as much of home as she could. We had a wonderful meal with all the trimmings and gave thanks for our blessings. (Sarah - Steve and Jane had brought me some Aunt Jamima corn meal mix so I was able to make chicken and dressing. It was pretty good but not like Mother’s. We cooked that and our peas and potatoes on a two burner plug-in on the table. We had to move it off to set up the toaster for the bread and then all of it off to fix our plates. This was also the spot where our driftwood Christmas Tree had sat. Did
Christmas morning
Grace looks really impressed with Ben's new backpack towel we mention this place was small? Our Christmas stockings were also delivered along with stuffing from Mother so that made us all feel better.) I, on the other hand, lead the family on an exploratory walk which was much further than any of us wanted to go. Fearing a mutiny, I think I apologized. (Sarah - Mark’s hikes take us in all sorts of directions. This one led us down the beach until we ran into a pasture. He wanted to circle around it and look for the town center but we ran away. Later, we decided to DRIVE to town to check it out. Suprisingly, there was one store open on Christmas Day - a dairy run by an Indian family. We were looking for crayons but found instead a package of pre-cooked Indian puhn-nah. Ben was hungry again so he decided to try it. It was actually not too bad since it was full of chili powder and cumin. It kind of reminded us of the traditional Mexican feast we always have on Christmas Eve! The store also had Tip Top ice cream on hand which made up for our lack of Christmas desserts.) Grace received a Monopoly
game as one of her gifts - NZ version. That evening, Sarah attacked the board game like setting up for a lob in tennis. After becoming a multibillionaire, she retired, while the rest of us sulked. (Sarah - I cannot help the fact that I was taught by master board gamers as a child to use wit and strategy to crush my opponents. It was fun to buy up the Abel Tasman National Park and the Picton Ferry, along with all the other NZ properties that we have visited along the way).
On Boxing Day, we went on an excursion to the Abel Tasman. We did not have time to complete the five day tramp through the park. We boarded an excursion boat that hops along the bays. This allows you to pick a section of the trail that you either want to see or can match it to your ability or time constraints. It also enables you to skip the more crowded parts of the trail. The trail we picked from Tonga Bay to Barks Bay, had short sections through the bush and gained elevation for nice views of the sea. (Sarah - the weather was forcasted to
Christmas morning
Grace was really excited about her new alarm clock!! Way to go, Santa! be bad on Christmas and Boxing Day as well but it held out for us long enough to do our hike. The boat taxi over to our drop off was fun and took us out to an island where the seals bathe in the sun. A little blue penguin surfed off the wake next to me part of the way. We dropped off people at different beaches for their section of the walk. Some had large rubber tubs of food that they had bought in “town” and were ferrying back to their batches (beach houses). We feasted on lasagna brought from home that night and watched the 7th season of Gilmore Girls - also Christmas gift for Grace).
The next day took us further down the west coast toward the small town of Westport. Westport is located adjacent to Cape Foulwind, which has a small lighthouse. The Cape was named by Captain Cook because of…anyone?…anyone?…the bad weather. It is also an appropriate name for the weather system inside of our van at times. Ben bought some light fishing tackle and insisted on wetting a hook. We found a river a short drive away that discharges into the ocean. He
Christmas morning
Mark got a new kiwi sun hat. The art behind him is a stingray made from a palm frond. caught a small brown trout, but nothing trophy sized. He sacrificed some of his better lures in the effort. (Sarah - This was the longest drive so far and I didn’t help matters by almost running out of gas and having to detour 72 kilometers to fill up. We stopped in one little town that had a gas pump but it was dry. The lady informed us that we had better “top up” whenever we got the chance as the government had taken the pumps out of many of the small towns. We prayed our way to Reefton and coasted in on fumes. This is where Ben found his fishing tackle. It just so happens that I have been corresponding with one of the locum doctors in Reefton. Astrid and her family are from Canada and she had proved a great help to me in preparing for our move. We had actually planned to meet that afternoon on a river about an hour north of our destination - that is, if I didn’t waste our whole day finding petrol! Anyway, while Ben looked for tackle, I struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper, Rosemary. She had just spent Christmas with
Christmas Day
The road less traveled (except by the Robbins) Astrid and her family! It is truly a small world with nice people in it. We left Reefton with no time to spare and got into Cape Foulwind tired, hungrey and spent. There was no way I was going to get anyone back into the car for an hours drive to the river. Sorry, Astrid.)
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