We were sad to leave Takaka, but not too sad, because we were very excited indeed for the next leg of our journey. We were heading to Nelson! Kara and I had been there briefly before with Summer and Jase back in Blenheim, but we hadn't had a chance to spend much time. We were thankful as hell for our new brakes as we drove back over the Takaka Hill. We went through the adorable town of Motueka on our way there, and stopped by the side of the road to get some Nashi Pears. Jordan knew about them, but I hadn't heard of them before! They're basically a cross between pears and apples. Do we have them back home? I do not know but I hope like hell-- they're DELICIOUS.
We had hoped to be able to be in Nelson early on Saturday for their awesome Saturday Market (which we'd gone to with Summer and Jase), but the car problems in Takaka stopped us from making it on Saturday at all. Instead, we decided to try and arrive early enough for their Sunday market to see what all that was about- and we did, but perhaps it wasn't worth how quickly we ended up making the drive. The Sunday market was more a flea market then and arts and crafts market, and so it wasn't quite what we were looking for. HOWEVER, the market was located next to the EXCELLENT gelato store Penguino, so, you know, that was okay. (SEA SALT DARK CHOCOLATE CARAMEL GELATO. CRY WITH JEALOUSY. I'LL WAIT.)
After exploring the city a bit-- and visiting an isite in a desperate attempt to figure out how to plan our Abel Tasman adventure, which was next on our list after Nelson-- we headed for our hostel. Tramper's Rest was certainly one of the most comfortable and cozy hostels we have spent time in while in New Zealand. It's run by Alan and Piri out of their home-- the hostel is a house, with only 8 beds, and it really feels like a home. Alan and Piri also have an adorable son, J., who is only about 7 or 8 and who we had a great time playing with for the time we were there. He showed me how to braid a necklace, and he and Jordan had some very intense sword fights! And we did math together. (My math is about his level, so that worked.)
Our original Nelson plan was to stay there for 3 days and explore the city, and then backtrack to Motueka and go out to Abel Tasman National Park from there. Abel Tasman can be explored in many ways- single day kayak trips, multi-day kayak trips, kayak and walking trips, kayak and water ferry trips, single day walking trips, multi-day walking trips... and we were having a really hard time deciding what to do. Once we realized how comfortable the hostel was, though, we made the decision to stay in Nelson and explore Abel Tasman from there. We told Alan that we were having a hard time, and he went through a few options with us. Then he checked the weather, and discovered that the next day (Monday) was going to be by far the nicest weather all week. So we made a very split second decision to do a single day guided kayak tour, and I think that was maybe the only way we'd have been able to make any decision at all!
We decided we'd better have a low-key evening if we were going to kayak the next day, but we were all in the mood to get out for a bit. We decided to walk to the Center of New Zealand! It's located on a hill about a 20 minute walk from our hostel. The spot is not the actual geographical center of New Zealand-- instead, it's the surveyor's center, which apparently means that it's the point that other points considered their relation to back in the days before GPS. There was a cool monument up there, and a great view-- our first view of a real city in a long time.
The kayak place, called The Sea Kayak Company, is located in Motueka. The kayaks actually leave from a town right on the border of Abel Tasman called Marahau. We were introduced to our guide for the day, Aaron, and then we all piled into a van and they drove us to Marahau. He told us to keep an eye on a buoy about 50 meters away from shore-- it was high tide when we cast off and would be low tide when we got back, and he said that because the beach was so shallow for such a long time, the buoy would be completely on land when we got back.
The day was absolutely, completely, 100% perfect. The weather couldn't have been better. Kara and I had been worried, the later it got into fall, that we may have missed our window for a really beautiful Abel Tasman trip. Not so! It was 75 degrees and sunny with only a bit of cloud cover, and the sea was completely glassy and still. We couldn't believe how lucky we were.
We got to see a lot of interesting sea life, too. We saw a HUGE starfish, and lots of schools of fish!
Also, we got to see sand dollars, and even a few hermit crabs on the beach.
(Jordan says, the return paddle after lunch was must more steady than our previous stop and go paddling around the island and with the seals. Kara and I talked to Aaron about the bay and the local wildlife, while the events above occupied Lizzy despite our best efforts.)
But, for all that, it was just an incredible day and experience. I wouldn't even change it, as it's always fun to have a ridiculous-person story. Kara and Jordan had an excellent time in their kayak, and managed to get a lot more pictures then me. It's going to be one of those days that I think all of us will remember, vividly, forever.
And, on the way back, we had a tricked-out bus with basketball hoop cup holders!
We were still pretty exhausted the next morning, and got something of a slow start, but it wound up being a nice low-key day! We explored the town all morning-- Kara went on an art walk!- and relaxed a bit. In the evening, we went to an amazing bar we'd heard about called The Free House. It's in a really great old building in the heart of Nelson. It's called The Free House because it's not affiliated here with any specific brewery, and so they have a really interesting tap selection. I had a beer that tasted like Christmas, and I think Jordan might have had his favorite beer of all time.
The next day was another low key day! We had intended to get a good start, but that didn't really happen. We got caught up in booking our next few hostels, and figuring out a bit about our Wellington plans. (I was sort of tempted to just stay in Nelson and look for work, it was so nice... but we're going to give Wellington a shot!) We're also thinking of wwoofing a bit with Noemie before settling down, and we were looking at dates to see if we can make it work. We'll see!
In the afternoon, we drove to the Ruby Bay Scenic Drive that takes you to the adorable town of Mapua. There are a lot of artists with galleries along the route, and we had a good time looking at a few-- but the absolutely highlight of the day was stopping in at the Jester House Cafe & Tame Eels. Yes, that's right.
The Jester House is an AMAZING cafe. It has great food and drinks, but also an amazing yard to explore- it had a grove filled with amazing wood carvings to play with, and it had the most glorious and fun teeter-totters, and it had a tiger to sit on, and a giant chess board, and a monster head that Kara is going to steal and ship home, and even a bed & breakfast INSIDE A GIANT SHOE.
So we had an amazing time playing.
After we fed the first one, more and more started showing up. We were surrounded by eels. We touched one and it literally felt like nightmares, oh my god, but it was SO COOL. How often in life do you have chances like this?????
(I am a bit concerned for the eels-- can it be good to train them to be fed by humans? Maybe we shouldn't have done it but... how often do you have chances like that, you know?!) (Jordan says, we really shouldn't have done many of the things we did with animals in this blog post, but as Lizzy said, "were else?")
Still, it's a store very worth the checking out if you're in town, and throw your money (if you have any!) at those talented artists!
The next day was our last in Nelson and we decided to make the most of it. In the morning we went to a last few stores around town, and Jordan got a great gift for his brother at an artist co-op (so many artists in Nelson.) Then we hopped in the car and went to see Fumio Noguchi, an absurdly talented bone carver. We had hoped to see him at the Saturday market but hadn't been able to go, so we went to his home studio. Which we didn't realize was ACTUALLY in his home, and we didn't have the kind of money his work costs, so it wound up being a bit awkward. But I think he was flattered by our interest, anyway.
After that, we tried to go to the Founders Heritage Park to explore the heritage of Nelson a little bit, and also to have a beer tasting at the Founders Brewery. But you had to pay to go in, even if you only wanted to go to the Brewery! We decided against it as it had been a very expensive few days. Instead we went to the nearby Japanese Gardens.
Nelson's sister city is Miyazu, Japan, and the gardens are built in honor of that relationship. They are very beautiful. Also, we had a lot of fun with their yin and yang lawn!
IT WAS AWESOME. SO GREAT. CAPTAIN AMERICA! UGH.
And that was Nelson! We were very sorry to leave it, and if things in Wellington don't work out the way we plan, we may well be back. :)