Advertisement
Published: April 4th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Ok we have been off the grid for some time working unfortunately. This unnecessary evil is so we can top the bank account and continue on our journey. So sorry to all our followers for this delayed blog but basically I couldn’t be assed writing it.…….. however I am regretting not taking notes along the way😊.
Tuesday 14/2 Its raining and the weather today forces me to write and send out our West Coast blog. A break in the weather allows Lance to go for a run but little else has been achieved as we hunker down for another day of rain. Wednesday 15/2 we wake to a break in the weather ….yippee. So off west just out of Murchison we head to do the Skyline Walk. Mixed reviews on this walk as to if this is a moderate or steep grade walk. They say allow 1.5 hrs return but it took us about an hour. Not sure I would call it steep but it did tickle the achilles up😊. The views at the top are pretty cool with views over Murchison town and the beautiful 4 River Plain that Murchison is built. From here you get good views of
the mountains and the Buller, Matiri and Matakitaki rivers. Further up the road we return to Buller Gorge Swing bridge. For $10 you get to cross this spectacular bridge which is the longest swing bridge in NZ at 110m long and suspended about 17 metres high. Today you were a little closer to the water because of all the recent rain. The river is up high and a raging torrent of brown water rips down under the bridge. So all you Gephyrophobia people this would not be a good day to address your fears of crossing bridges😊. On the other side there are various little walking tracks that are in need of some TLC. Planks of wood over mud made for an interesting walk around this area. Wanting to take a look at the Ariki Falls we made our way out on the track meeting a few people returning back on the track saying it was to boggy to go down. Never one to step back from a challenge we thought we would give it a whirl. Yes slow, yes wet, yes boggy +++. We made it to the river edge to only find a raging river of water rushing
through a boulder gorge and no waterfall. Perhaps the river had swallowed it? Still worth the effort even if we didn’t find the small waterfall. Last stop for the day is Motueka and the Marchwood Motorhome park .
Thursday 16/2 Sun glorious sun😊. The plan was to re stock and head to Kaiteriteri beach for the afternoon. Unfortunately the beach was chocca and you couldn’t move let alone get a park. Not my scene I'm afraid so we carried on over the hill to the beautiful Marahau (Start of the Abel Tasman track). A much quieter place to enjoy the sun and sand. Tonight we are parked up at Marble Hills Camp. Great little farm camp about 3 kms up the road from Marahau. Kereru (NZ Pigeons) kept us entertained for the evening. I love these fat colourful birds.
Friday 17/2 Its raining as we head slowly over the Takaka Hill stopping in Takaka township to wander around the shops. Time to head out to Pohara and the Tarakohe NZMCA park. The weather is awful so it will be an eating, reading afternoon😊.
Saturday 18/2 and we head off to one of my favourite places……..Totaranui. We stay
here at the DOC camp for 7 nights and are finally rewarded with some summer weather. Lots of swimming in the crystal clear waters everyday. Laying on the golden sand reading and plenty of beautiful walks both north and south of the camp. Our walks north were to Little Anapai beach and Mutton Cove. Heading South from the camp to Goat Bay and Waiharakeke Bay. My beach pick is the southern end of Waiharareke Bay with the views over to Awaroa and Southern end of Mutton Cove these magic spots we had all to ourselves😊. I could stay here forever especially with the sun shining.
Saturday 25/2 It’s time to leave this beautiful place and head to Motueka to restock and prepare for work. Yes we are back again to do the Hops Harvest. Will head out to the Hops farm tomorrow and be ready for work on Monday.
Monday 27/2 – 31/3 Yes we survived another Hops Harvest. Working 6 days (sometimes 7 days) per week, 7am till 7pm (sometimes longer). I call it boot camp where you earn crap money, work your ass off and lose a few pounds😊. But the bank account does look a
little better. Lance was driving tractors and this year I spent a fair amount of my time in the Kilns sweating like a pig. I got very good at jumping over things as the kilns are quite high to get in and out of. I think they forgot about us short people when they designed the kiln building, I can open the window latches but can’t actually push them open without a stick, half the gauges I need a stool to see, the pump handles are so high that I can only just kinda reach to turn the heat on😊. But there is light at the end of the tunnel tonight we walked from Marchwood to the Motueka RSA for a meal and catch up with friends. On return in the dark we needed to get over a high locked gate and I scaled that bugger like a 20 year old😊. Lance looked like Grandpa trying to get over (pfft whatever Lance the torch was on you just didn’t like the gate wobbling).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 76; dbt: 0.1047s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb