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Published: March 10th 2007
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Picnic lunch stop on way to Nelson
All the girls need to enjoy themselves Land of the pie:
NZ is truly Land of the pie, no matter how remote or how small the hamlet in any tiny shop there will be a hot cabinet full of pies, containing anything from Venison to Cheese, fruit or veg. They even have pie awards and every now and again you will come across a ‘gold award’ pie - take note, at Pelorus bridge they have an award winning cheese pie…if that floats your boat!
and land of the fly:
All the travel guides mention the need for good insect repellant, and the fact that the sandfly is a bit of a pest in NZ. That is an understatement and I think all travel guides should have a chapter on how horrendous they are. Not only that - no insect repellant actually works. We are now moving onto Dettol and baby oil (I am promised that this is effective). So the trailer somewhat looks like a traveling pharmacy, with all the antihistamines, repellants, tea tree oil, anti-itch creams and the usual calpol etc. What is worse about these blighters is the bites itch for weeks after. And for me the experience has been particularly charming. In addition to
the usual bikers tan - half brown arms, brown front of thighs, and backs of calves, brown face with panda eyes, I now have lovely swollen red blotches from each sand fly bite to add to the patchwork!
9h2]Diary:
So we had a great couple of days in Picton. On the Sunday it was hot and sunny, walked to the viewpoint above town and then down to the foreshore - which was delightful. A great kiddies play area, splash pool, local craft market, coffee and burger stalls. As you can imagine all the ingredients for a perfect afternoon for all of us. The following day was quite damp so we visited the Library and went to the Seahorse centre. The weather looked similarly overcast the following day so we decided to get on the road. By the time we had actually packed up the weather was clearing and the temperature got hotter until it was brilliant sunshine as we climbed over the ridge for our first view of Havelock. We stopped for a fab lunch at the Mussell Pot (Havelock is mussel central in NZ), and then took the girls to the playground for an hour, before we cycled
to the campsite. However the girls had absolutely no interest in the playround once they discovered the kindergarden in session in the adjacent building. Gradually from poking their heads round the door, their little bodies squirmed slowly into the lesson and the teacher eventually invited them to join in. So a couple of happy hours were spent painting, sticking and drawing, before the session finished and we cycled up the river valley to the campsite.
Pelorus Bridge campsite is beautiful and whilst Ben put the tent up the girls paddled in the shallows watching the tadpoles. The following day Ben went off to try the exceptionally steep off road route to Nelson and the girls and I paddled around and played in the stream. A lazy day nicely complete with a superb cream tea from the Pelorus Bridge café (highly recommended).
On Thursday it was back on the bikes for two tough hill climbs to Nelson. The Wangamoa saddle proved particularly tough and saw us down to 2.5 miles an hour for the last very steep section. At one point Lily piped up “Mummy cycling is a bit boring isn’t it - why don’t we get off and walk”! At
Wild Camp
Breakfast on the Wild Side least she was willing to do so if it came to it. However we both made it to the top and really enjoyed the cruise down the other side and round the bay into Nelson. After a first night at a campsite on one side of town we moved across to the other side to be closer to the beach, and we spent 3 days in Nelson on the beach and visiting town - the Saturday market was excellent. Ben went off mountain biking with the guys from the local bike shop and enjoyed the more technical unmarked track - the marked tracks seem quite tame. We also camped next to some Germans also cycling with children, one slightly younger than Thea in a trailer and the other aged 5 on the back of a tandem adapted with kiddy cranks.
From Nelson it was a 2 day climb to St Arnaud, with a rough camp at Golden Downs. The girls loved the big wide stream for paddling and collecting smooth stones, however the sandflies were a real pain and the bites beginning to dampen any pleasurable nights sleep.
We arrived in St Arnaud in blistering heat, and threw ourselves into
Nelson Lakes
Going for a swim in the lake the cool mountain lake for a swim. Truly superb, nothing between you the lakes and mountains. We camped there for 2 nights and the girls enjoyed playing in the river. And spotting the eels that live under the boat ramps.
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