Day 17 NZ - city tripping in Nelson posted by Dave

Today we ventured into Nelson, the founding city of New Zealand to check out the local history. 

The boys were awed by the Christ Church Cathedral in the center of town. It's stained glass windows, massive room-sized elevated organ and granite architecture were splendid. 

 After calling Grandma W to wish her an early 'Happy Birthday' we stumbled upon a back street farmers market.

 Our next stop took us to Founder's park.  It happened  to (unbeknownst to me) to have a brewery on site.  I was excited about their tasting paddle, but after learning that they were all out of beef and fish due to supply shortages following the public holidays, we passed on tasting and enjoyed a picnic in the park outside.

 Monkey tried out the gallows for size.

 And both boys enjoyed looking around at the many historical artifacts on sit - mostly transportation based.

We called it an early day as we are off for a full day tomorrow with an early drive and hopefully fireworks to close out our 2015.

With a birthday to celebrate Monkey was escorted to many bakeries to choose a dessert he would find fitting.

 His heart was set on something else and he decided to get a box mix,  chocolate icing and caramel sauce. He carried that bag of goodies all the way to the car. He wouldn't put it in the trunk with the other groceries, he just cradled it and grinned and giggled.

Day 16 NZ - the Kaiteriteri boat excursion to Abel Tasman

My mom came to Abel Tasman back in July and she loved it. We showed up this morning nice and early to get a parking spot and be ready for our cruise to board. 

The boys were thrilled to see the beach and the park and Dave and I found ourselves wondering why we even bother to drop $200 on a boat cruise when they are perfectly happy not to ever even get on the thing.

 But get on the boat we did. The set up is that you can choose how long you want to cruise and how long you want to hike. There's also a "sit on the beach" and a kayak option.

With my toasty wing we opted to cruise and hike the 10k hike.

The cruise was great.

 We hopped off and naively believed that a 10km hike would be only 10km. It's a really good thing we had given ourselves lots of time!

We got to hike on a variety of terrains

At a variety of elevations

And saw all sorts of beautiful things.

When strava told me that we were more than 10 km in to our hike we passed a sign that indicated that our destination was 2.8 more km. We were not a happy crew when we saw that!!!

We grumbled, but we completed it!

 
The reward at the end was 90 minutes at the beach to wait for the boat to come back and collect us.

 We happily exploited that time doing our favourite things!

NZ Day 15-Matoeka and Takaka

We set out this morning to see more of this part of New Zealand. We started with a short walk along the waterfront in a pretty little town called Moteuka.

 We discovered that it used to be a Maori and then European shipping port. No one could tell is why this rusted out hull was here, but it sure looked cool!

 We headed to Takaka to keep hiking and exploring. I should mention that yesterday's nurse gave me the all clear to sweat-yay!

First we did a short hike up to an awesome lookout. It is the green dot in the maps below. Less than 1k out and back. Awesome views.

We felt the need for more so we headed to the proper track and hiked another 4k. Usually our family is up for more than that but we have a recovering gimp

and a big hike in Abel Tasman planned for tomorrow, so we took it easy. 

 The track was surprisingly challenging with lots of loose rocks and such. A great view and great workout. 

I should point out that not all members of this gang feel that long hikes are the go. When we were booking our Abel Tasman hike the women asked how long we like to go for, Dave and I answered "2-3 hours". Behind us BigC replied "half an hour". Hilarious.

NZ Day 14-Punakaiki to Nelson

Wow. We've been here for 2 weeks. It has been so much fun that it both feels like forever and like we just arrived.

 All of hated to leave the beach. With the promise of my mom's favourite part of NZ as our next stop we packed up the car and go on the road.

Blah, blah scenery amazing...crazy one lane, blind corner bridges...more amazing scenery....

Dave changed the bandage on my arm yesterday but both us us were feeling a bit clueless as to whether it looked awesome or terrible. Photos to friends in the know didn't really help much so we opted to visit the nurses in Nelson.  For only $20 these beautiful people are happy to change my dressing and tell me what they think.

She loved the dressing that Dave did and said that arm looks great. Yay!!!

Apparently everything is healing wonderfully and we don't need to go back in unless something changes. What a relief!

We are staying at an awesome little private cabin off the beaten track so we stopped for provisions.

I must be having the best luck ever as I saw this dude holding a metal chicken. Of course, I NEEDED a selfie with it!!

 So now we are tucked away in our cute little cottage. After more than a week in hostels with shared kitchens and moSt recently, shared washrooms, it is great to have a space all our own for a few days.

Day 14 NZ -Punakaiki pancake rocks and ocean wanderings

Today is our last full day in Punakaiki. We spent the morning chatting with the W family 'from the future' as they celebrated their family Christmas get together. It was super to talk with family and feel a part of their Christmas. 

 We decided to make the most of our last day here by strolling along the ocean and checking out the Pancake Rocks which was only a 15 minute walk from our hostel.  

 Monkey found a place to rest and relax, then request a photo.

 Sarah-Jane was showing no ill effects of her recovery meds.

 The boys loved the blow hole as it erupted water when the largest waves came rumbling through.

 We stopped by the nearby caverns to poke our heads in, but opted not to descend into the darkness below.

We have been totally in awe by the beauty in this part of the country. We will certainly all remember Christmas 2015 for a lifetime. Thank you to our Australian friend Joan that recommended we stay here.