Haere ra to the North Island, and Haere mai to the South! A very warm welcome of three consecutive stays with friends awaited us as we rolled off the ferry in Picton – quite the treat!
The first stop was just 30km from Picton in Blenheim – a fairly typical NZ small town with the bonus of being a short ride from the motherload of NZ wineries in the (very) well known Marlborough region. We’d been a few times before (of course) so we knew we’d enjoy slowing down – and we were lucky enough to have an open invitation from ex-Auckland Council work colleague Adi who now lives in Blenheim in a beautiful heritage villa on the outskirts of town.
We ‘booked in’ for a three night stay in Adi’s back garden ‘crib’ and were treated to some delicious home cooking, a visit to the local pub (which specialises in Japanese food!), tips and advice on our South Island plans, and some (gentle) fun time with Adi’s dog Billy (gentle as he was nursing a sore toe at the time). We also got caught up on washing, some bike maintenance jobs, blogging (although probably not enough caught up as I’m writing this now, just a few short weeks later!) and enjoyed an afternoon visiting a few wineries (a great excuse for wandering down memory lane).
After a bit of a recharge we were ready to jump back on the bikes, with the plan of arriving at Mark and Janelle’s place in Nelson mid afternoon on the Saturday. However, when we plotted out the route the night before we realised that… oops – it’s a bit further than we thought and a LOT hillier. Cycling there in a morning wasn’t practical but as it so happened, Adi was planning to drive over to Nelson on the Saturday morning anyway, to meet up with a friend. Not too proud to turn down the offer of a lift (this is the first time we’ve had it happen!) we said ‘yes please’ and enjoyed being zoomed over the pass (we still cycled the very steep hill up to Mark and Janelle’s though, which was quite enough!)
It was really brilliant to catch up with them both, as well as their two boys Emmett and Gabriel, and stay in their downstairs spare room (which is also available on AirBnB if anyone is passing through Nelson anytime soon!)
We enjoyed an afternoon in their garden (with incredible views and drinks/nibbles), followed by dinner out and a morning at the beach the next day – providing the opportunity for us both to have our first ever try on a paddle board courtesy of Mark. We loved it!
The goodbyes came too quickly as before we knew it we were setting off again, joining the Tasman Great Taste Trail along the coast, onto Rabbit Island (and off again via a short ferry journey) and onwards to another ‘homestay’ – this time with Matt’s ex-Ko Awatea colleague Alison and her husband Simon. Alison and Simon haven’t long moved into their amazing new home overlooking the sea between Nelson and Motueka – it was an absolute treat to spend the evening and night there in our own annex no less, and with a delicious barbecue dinner, thank you both!
Simon and Alison also joined us for the first part of our ride the next day which was a change from cycling just the two of us (we do keep saying we need to ‘see other people’).
We were having such a lovely time in the sunshine that we changed our plans and rather than pushing on inland, decided to divert further up the coast to the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park, and one of our favourite spots in NZ from when we lived here – Marahau. Going back was strange and special at the same time. We’d spent all three previous NZ Christmases here – it’s one of the places you never forget. We were a bit worried that returning may burst the rose-tinted memory bubble. It didn’t!
Onwards the next day (I feel I write this a lot!) – and we started heading inland and southwards. A stop for the night in fairly uneventful Tapawera was followed up by riding the next day into Nelson Lakes National Park and Lake Rotoroa.
The gravel riding (before the state highway riding) was magic and the destination for the night completely perfect.
Except… SANDFLIES! If you’ve been to NZ, you know. If you haven’t – best you don’t know as you may never come! They were the stuff of nightmares at the DOC site near the lake with the only way to avoid them involving submerging ourselves in the lake (a bit cold to be practical for longer than a few minutes) or getting in the tent. We chose both and ended up doing a lot of the latter as the sandflies waited for us in the gap between the inner and outer.
We were up and off pretty early (we can out-cycle the sandflies after all), headed south for a day of pretty epic mostly gravel cycling up and over two passes with views at every turn.
All was going swimmingly until Matt cycled into a bee again! This time, the little **** managed to find its way up his shirt. So just as painful for Matt, but not as amusing for me as last time, alas.
Luckily we had made sure we weren’t sleeping with the sandflies that night, and instead stayed at Peter’s WarmShower at Springs Junction. Peter (and partner Robyn) are prolific hosts so we enjoyed a well tested evening of yummy fresh veggies for dinner from the garden and comfy beds in the rafters of their off grid home. Thank you Peter for your hospitality!
And again… onwards with an even longer day as it turned out, all the way to Greymouth on the west coast! This was one of our longer rides of the trip at 125km but we were spurred on by Peter mentioning that a storm was coming over and we might want to be ‘inside’ for the night. Nothing like bad weather news to make me cycle further and faster – the promise of the backpackers (private room thank you!) spurred us on, as well as the expectation of a couple of beers at the Monteith’s Brewery tap (I say a couple, Matt needed to try them all for research purposes).
The rain duly poured all night whilst we smugly stayed warm and dry inside. It had nearly completely cleared for us to set off onto the West Coast Wilderness Trail the next day. Again, a long day awaited due to a lack of accommodation/camping options but no bother as this was a long day to remember. A superb trail through the most stunning scenery – lucky us!
We arrived into Hokitika hungry and ready for our beds. Fortunately, Dulcie’s fish and chips were delicious, and the campground even better. No matter that it used to be a psychiatric hospital (and looks as though it’s not been touched since then) – the views were incredible and the welcome from the owner (or Mental Health Services Manager?) the best we’ve had so far in NZ!
…Our stay in Hokitika set us up very well for a short ride to complete the trail down to Ross the next day (the name of the place, Matt hasn’t had a name change!) What a few days! Well done NZ – nearly 100% perfect (when disregarding the sandflies, bees and intermittent torrential rain).
Thanks all for the lovely comments on my last blog and hope you all enjoyed Matt’s Stat Attack 2. Everyone’s interest motivates us to keep taking the piccies and reflecting on where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to. Somehow we’ve been away ten months to the day as I write this – and you’ve been with us all the way – thank you 🙂
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