The Nelson Region 31st March - 6th April

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The Nelson Region

Nelson Lakes National Park

We made a brief stop here intending to do the lakeside walk around Lake Rangitoiti. We had prepared ourselves for a 7 hour walk and arrived late morning at the Department of Conservation Office (DOC) for some more information. We were told that the 7 hour time only applies if you are prepared to wade through a river. We were not prepared to do this as it was not the warmest of days and the experts were forecasting snow in the upper echelons of the surrounding peaks. Our other option was to undertake a 3 hour detour to a swing bridge making the total walk time 10 hours.

We decided to do a couple of short walks instead. We had places to be, people to see, things to do, that kind of thing! In all seriousness, we could only afford to spend 1 day here as our schedule for the South Island was getting tight and we had arrived too late to contemplate the 10 hour epic. We chose the two short walks; ‘The Loop Track’ (1.5 hours) and ‘The Brunner Peninsular Walk’. The second of which got us closer to the lake on a regular basis and we only saw one other person during the 2.5 hour stroll. We both wished we had given ourselves more time here, but needs must and we were soon on our way to Motueka where we ended up staying at the fringe of the town then Lisa booked us onto a skydive…

Skydive Abel Tasman

Lisa describes her experience…

I woke up with apprehension not having slept very well, worrying about what lay in store for us later today. Our dive was put back until 2pm which meant another hour of anxiety and nervous tension to endure. It was almost a relief to finally get to Motueka airstrip knowing that our wait was nearly over. Unluckily for us we actually ended up waiting another 2 hours before we got anywhere near a plane!

We were not given too much information on what was involved on purpose in order to minimise nerves. We were given a DVD to watch which detailed some of what was involved and the various photo/DVD packages you could purchase! Just before we boarded the plane we met the people who would be jumping with us and cameramen who would capture our experiences on DVD. My Dive Master was John from the Czech Republic who had completed over 4000 jumps - this made me feel a lot less nervous! The time had come for a few questions and an intro on our film and then 8 of us filed onto a plane into a space of about 2m squared akin to a no frills airline! Our experience was prolonged as we did not take off there and then. The pilot aborted takeoff citing a problem with the brakes. This did not do our confidence any favours. We were jumping from 13,000ft on April Fools Day and there were problems with the brakes. Was someone trying to tell us something?

We found ourselves back on the plane about 30 minutes later. We took off at 4.30pm and we both attempted to relax by taking in the views of the surrounding areas, especially the Abel Tasman National Park. We also got to see Kahurangi National Park, the Otuwhero River, the town of Motueka and the ocean. It was not easy to relax, my eyes kept darting to the Dive Master's wrist which had a device for recording altitude and every 1000ft we climbed a little voice was racing around my head saying ‘gosh this is high!’.

Once we had reached our target height of 13,000ft (not 15,000ft due to airspace restrictions required by nearby airports), the ‘emergency exit’ door was slid open and out we went. Mike and his Dive Master called Adam went first and as I watched them disappear I began to have second thoughts, but it was far too late for backing out now.

The last thing I remember before falling out of the plane was giving my Dive Master a bewildered look and being told it was time. I was then no longer in control. My Dive Master chose when to jump - I had my legs dangling out into the air, holding onto nothing. A smile for the camera and then down we went hurtling through the air where we would approach a speed of 200km/h before the parachute opened. Within a few seconds my cameraman had appeared and was holding onto my hand. As I smiled and focussed on him, I could feel the air rushing into my mouth making my throat dry. It was certainly an exhilarating feeling free falling, but, before I knew it the parachute was open and we had slowed right down. My cameraman continued to free fall and was soon out of sight as we sailed through the air. John then pointed out various landmarks and told me to focus on the horizon when we made turns which helped. We spent about 5 minutes floating down to the airstrip. I was able to wave to Mike before we landed, almost upright, my cameraman poised to capture my thoughts as I gently hit the floor.

There was another hour of waiting around for our DVDs to be edited. Despite the waiting game it was one of the best days of our entire trip and we will never forget it!

Abel Tasman National Park

By the time we had collected our skydive DVDs it was not far off closing time for our chosen campsite in Maruhau. We hastily made our way there arriving in time to pick up our water taxi tickets which were pre-booked at the visitor centre in Motueka.

We had booked onto the earliest boat which left our camp at 09:00. We took the boat to Bark Bay. From there we walked back to Maruhau which was about 20km. The track was well marked and very easy terrain with only a few steep sections. However the early steep sections helped warm us up after our ‘invigorating’ early morning boat trip!

When deciding to set our start point as Bark Bay we had factored in dong the high tide route from a section called Torrent Bay which added about 1.5 hours to the walk. However we made such good time that by the time we got there the low tide route was still passable (with some wading and slopping about in the mud). We were still going to do the high tide route until we found the obvious walk track fenced off with the distant sound of chainsaws...

We got to a major checkpoint called Anchorage where we found a secluded spot on a golden beach with turquoise water gently lapping the shore to have lunch. We then happily tucked into cheese and Branston Pickle sandwiches - does it get any sweeter?

We stayed on the beach for about an hour wishing the sea was a few degrees warmer before doing the final 12km of the walk. The first part of which was a personal favourite as the steep climb gave perfect views over two bays. We had picked an excellent day to do this weather wise, a cloudless sky, but not so warm that the walk became an ordeal. We vowed that one day we would return and walk the entire track (a 3-5 day hike).

The Nelson Bone Carver

No, not a serial killer, but the alias given to the man behind our ‘creative tourism’ experience pre-booked a week prior. We drove to Nelson and found Steffan's house from which he runs workshops based on the Maori tradition of bone carving. Originally from Germany, he got to spend some time amongst the Maori culture and turned the resultant hobby he picked up into a living, creating pieces to sell and running workshops such as the one we were attending.

We spent about 30 minutes putting our designs on to paper. Surprisingly we did not find this as difficult as it could have been because the table was littered with examples of the craft from which we drew inspiration.

Using a series of tools from hacksaws to hand held dentist's drills with a variety of attachments, we fashioned our bits of cow leg bone into something resembling our drawings. Lisa and I incorporated paua (Abalone) shell into our pendant before polishing and refining them. We were both quite proud of our efforts.

The Geographical Centre of New Zealand

We spent a quiet couple of days in picturesque, sunny Nelson where we went on a few short strolls around the town taking in the much fabled Saturday Market which after the recommendations was a little disappointing. One walk we did of note was to the ‘centre of New Zealand’ which is marked by a beacon atop a hill giving fantastic views of Nelson, the beach and surrounding valleys - well worth the steep climb. As far as towns/cities go, Nelson rates up there with Christchurch as one of our favourites in New Zealand.

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Photos

A picture postcard!
Nelson Lakes National Park

Free falling over Motueka
"I hope that parachute opens!"

Anchorage where we had lunch
It was a hard day!

Produce of our labour
Our bone carvings.