Thankfully, the weather was benign when we left Wellington. We'd heard tales of monster waves and churning seas but, for once, we'd been blessed and any pitching and rolling of the ship was almost undetectable as we steamed towards Marlborough Sound and Picton.
No sooner had we docked and reclaimed our bags that we'd picked up our hire car and were motoring to Nelson, the sunniest place in New Zealand! We christened our trusty white Toyota 'Jolly Boin' ( you work it out) and, despite it having over 200,000 km on the clock and one or two lumps and bumps, we were soon safely ensconsed in Bumbles Backpackers.
Bumbles seemed aptly named as it was often 'buzzing' particularly at night when one gobby teeny bopper seemed to come alive and delighted in screeching at top volume -welcome to the raucous world of backpacker hostels!
We wandered around town and took a couple of longer walks with the intention of building our fitness for the tramps ahead. Tahunanui beach was interesting too, with it's long stretch of emery cloth charcoal sand and nearby was the home of Stephan, the Nelson Bonecarver. We duly enrolled on a course and spent a great day sawing, sanding and shaping beef bones into our very own pendants.
On the doorstep of the Abel Tasman National Park, Motueka, our next destination, was a comparative stones throw away, only a couple of hours up the coast. The YHA affiliated Bakers Lodge was going to be our home for Christmas and we were relieved to find it bore no resemblance to our previous lodgings. The owners and staff were really friendly and helpful and town had a laid back, welcoming vibe, which was nice!
We went on a reconnaisance mission to Mount Arthur, a half day trek which skirted around the summit, our intention being to save it for an extended walk on Christmas day. We also made a couple of day trips to Abel Tasman, first taking a water taxi to Torrent Bay and hiking back along the track and then leaving the car at Totaranui and walking to Separation Point and back. The scenery was fantastic, the track weaving along in and out of the bush, and onto beaches which stretched in golden arcs along the many bays and inlets along the way. We found ourselves face to face with bashing fur seals at Separation Point but were amazed to find there was not a single speciment of the dreaded and much feared sandfly to be found.
The build up to Christmas started promisingly with a turkey dinner in the 'postie' restaurant in downtown Motueka. Christmas day started bright and sunny but, up in the direction of Mount Arthur the clouds looked grey and ominous. Still, we'd planned to hike to the summit so that's what we were going to do, or so we thought. After negotiating the steep climb to the carpark up a single lane dirt track, never getting out of first gear for a good half hour, we arrived to find it raining so hard we immediately abandoned all hope of getting out of the car never mind trekking to the top of the mountain.
Thouroughly cheesed off, we retreated to Motueka, were, miraculously, the streets were bone dry. We took a stroll along the beach and rounded off the day in traditional fashion - stuffing our faces with desserts kindly provivded by the lovely people at the Lodge.
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