A Day in Nelson Day 9 Go Ahead NZ Untamed Landscapes #goaheadtours #newzealand
Grand Mercure Monaco Hotel
Dinner with a local family
Kia Ora
Kia Ora
After a bit of a sleep in, we roll into the breakfast buffet around 9 a.m.. Again, the weather is a little gloomy, OK it's raining but the forecast is for clearing later in the day.
We drive to Motueka.
Lots of agriculture in this area, including hops.
Today we're supposed to travel to Abel Tasman National Park and hop a boat for a ride to Anchorage Bay. We board the bus and drive about an hour to the boat, Wilson's at Kaiteriteri Beach. It's rainy, it's gray and the water is a little choppy. The thought of a long boat ride, to a beach, not to be picked up for an hour or so, to hang out in the rain, just isn't cutting it for most of our group.
We extensively discuss a Plan B and settle on: some will go back to the hotel, some will ride into Nelson with Patrick and three hearty souls (Rianne, Nathan and Richard) will board the boat. We'll be back to pick them up around 5 p.m. for delivery to our various hosts families for dinner.
Jay and I opt for the hotel and get caught up on emails, laundry and a lovely walk around the low tide bay across the street from our hotel.
Jay and I opt for the hotel and get caught up on emails, laundry and a lovely walk around the low tide bay across the street from our hotel.
We freshen up after our beach hike and it's back on the bus.
Patrick and Erica drop us off at the I-Site station and we meet up with our various host families for the evening. Jay, me, Hal, Judy, Rianne and Nathan are taken to Lynda and Stephen's house in Motueka.
They have a lovely home and gardens; most of our dinner was grown right in their backyard!
After dinner we had a wonderful time talking to Stephen and Lynda. Lynda was so excited about her new gadget a THERMOMIX (I want one!!) it is truly amazing. I'm pretty sure Erica could become a marvelous cook with this toy! It's totally Kapai!
More pictures of our day in Nelson: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/New-Zealand-2016/Nelson-Friday/
Next up, a visit to the Saturday Markets in Nelson, Wine Tasting, a drive to Picton to catch the Inter-island Ferry and Wellington, the Capital.
Day 1 and 2-Travel Days to New Zealand
Day 3 Queenstown
Day 4 Milford Sound
Day 5 Queenstown, Free Day
Day 6 Fox Glacier
Day 7 Hokitika, Punakaiki
Day 8 Nelson
Day 9 Nelson, Abel Tasman Park, Kiwi Family Dinner
Day 10 Wellington
Day 11 Wellington
Day 12 Rotorua
Day 13 Rotorua
Day 14 Auckland
Day 15 Auckland and departure
FYI Christchurch Quake Map There was a 7.8M quake a few days before we landed. This map shows all the quakes then and now.
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