#160 Nomad Diary. 11-17 November 2023. Ferry Into South Island, New Zealand. Ruby Bay Stay. Nelson for Church. Abel Tasman Water Taxi and Hike. Punakaiki. Hanmer Springs.
 |
| Darrell on the Ferry Coming Into Picton, South Island, New Zealand |
 |
| Selfie on Ferry Coming into Picton, South Island, New Zealand |
 |
| View from Car Driving from Picton to Ruby Bay, South Island, New Zealand |
 |
| Our Kitchen at Ruby Bay Apartment Saturday. 11. Today is our 2nd try on the Interislander Ferry. We went out for a fancy breakfast. The sun is high, the sky is all blue and the temperature is about 60 degrees. The water looks smooth for our expected afternoon crossing. While waiting in line we met a couple of people: Don from Nelson, NZ and headed home with his wife; and Eileen from near Nashville with her husband Barry driving their own campervan. They have a house in Tennessee but spend a great deal of time in NZ living in this camper with bicycles on the back. We trade information with Eileen about trustedhousesitters.com because she has a cat and has just recently been getting a house sitter for her TN property. The ship is loaded efficiently and the passengers are sitting and walking around between 3 indoor venues, 2 outside areas all on decks 7 and 8. We brought our own picnic lunch with us as an alternative to the pricey low quality restaurant onboard. We arrive Picton in about 3 hours and efficiently unload into a small scenic town with mountains at the end of a waterway lined with mountains. We went immediately to a Thai restaurant for dinner, then headed off on our 2+ hour drive to Ruby Bay and our now 3 night stay. We arrived just at sunset. The drive was curvy up and down through mountain roads and very few small towns. Our place is amazing! King bed, spotless, walkout with windows and a fab shower. We sleep wonderfully!. |
 |
| Beach Near Our Ruby Bay Apartment Sunday. 12. We did our routine morning exercise. Our apartment is roomy and the ceiling is high enough that Darrell can stretch his arms. There is a wall of windows looking out into the garden. We fixed and ate our breakfasts. Washed a load of laundry and hung the clothes out in the hot sun to dry. Church is a 25 minute drive back to Nelson.We easily found it and entered to meet the 20 or so people waiting to begin. The group was welcoming and enjoyable to meet. Darrell got the job to lead singing and the songs were already selected. The people here stand for every song. I like that because they keep the leader from standing alone. We enjoyed the morning worship and more visiting after. Each person here has a story of how they came to New Zealand. Pauline came at age 12 and her sister was 15. Her parents were Londoners looking for work. Her dad got a job in Nelson and also became the preacher. Now her parents are passed on and her sister married and American and lives in Florida near Orlando. The preacher is 3rd generation Irish and told me that New Zealanders can keep two passports while living here. So his son went to college in Ireland and just graduated. There was also a couple from Taiwan who have lived here for 8 years. Such amazing diversity and New Zealand displays it so well. We left and went out to “Honest Lawyer Pub” for lunch. Our fusion entree that we shared was fried calamari with a mixed greens salad topped with kimchi and a side of sesame seed flavored dressing. It was delicious! We also had a pizza. Then we went to a farm store for shopping for fresh fruit and veg. It was busy and enjoyable. We then went to Pac and Save for the rest of our list. Surprising to find that the prices at the discount market for fruit and veg were close to the farm market. It is currently strawberry season here. We rested at home, did another load of laundry, decided what we will see tomorrow and walked down to the wharf in the evening. |
 |
| Our Excursion Begins Here With a Tractor Towed Water Taxi |
 |
| Trail View |
 |
| We Took The Anchorage Track/Trail And We Are About 30 Minutes From Our Car Here Monday. 13. Beautiful day hiking in Abel Tasman Park. Darrell found and booked us on the water taxi into the park and we walked back to our car. It was a long hike and we carried backpacks with water and lunch. We had a picnic at a nice beach during our hike. |
 |
| Lunch Restaurant |
 |
| West Coast South Island, New Zealand North of Punakaiki |
 |
| Near Punakaiki |
 |
| Near Punakaiki Tuesday. 14. We drove from Ruby Bay to just north of Punakaiki. We arrived for our two night stay at a group cabin at Te Nikau Retreat. We had a private room and bathroom and shared the kitchen. From our place, we walked down through a rainforest to the coast. There was a lot of rain when we arrived and our walk to the coast was really fun in the evening. |
 |
| Going Down Mossy Steps Under a Rock and Through |
 |
| Foot Bridge |
 |
| Pancake Rocks |
 |
| Pancake Rocks Wednesday. 15. We woke up to cool rain at our shared Retreat house. Everyone in our house was checking out except for us. New people would come in the evening. We stayed around and inside while the rain conquered the morning. We called into our online Bible class with our friends in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. After lunch we took off for a walk. It turned into a very long walk, maybe 8-9 miles once we totalled it up. We went through our rainforest to the highway and south and crossed the highway going back in between two mountains on a rainforest track following a river. There were beautiful mossy trees and steps and rock tunnels all leading to a foot bridge used mostly by bikers on their trail. We kept walking back on the trail to go back to the coast and we had a choice to take the ‘Historic Miners’ track/trial. We took it and later found out that it was very tough and added time and length to our hike! We did enjoy the achievement and saw many beautiful sights. We eventually came back to the highway. We were south of Pancake Rocks visitor center. We walked up the mountain to Pancake Rocks and found that it’s amazing! It’s stunning! We were quite tired and still had an hour to walk back to our Retreat and cook dinner. We did all of that and slept well. |
 |
| Historic Rare Engine on Display |
 |
| Bedroom in Hanmer Springs Cabin |
 |
| Sunset View From Our Hanmer Springs Cabin Thursday. 16. We drove to Hanmer Springs. It’s quite rural on this part of South Island. We stopped for lunch and gasoline on our way. We stopped whenever we wanted to take a picture. Our few hours drive is scenic with changing scenery. Somewhere in this first two weeks of our road trip I did take turns to drive and I did fine especially with Darrell reminding me about my turn signals. On the fairly straight roads I am comfortable driving. I am okay driving on curvy mountain roads too, but most of them I am happier to let Darrell drive. We arrived to a cute cabin and we did our laundry while here for two nights. Our first night we walked 10 minutes to downtown where there are mostly tourists looking for restaurants and coming and going from the hot spring pools complex. We went to a fancy restaurant for this little town. Then we took an hour walk through a wooded path called the sculpture walk. We decided that on Friday we would go to the pool complex. I wasn’t feeling very good and I was looking forward to the pools. Friday. 17. I got my haircut at 9am by the only hair stylist in town! She told me this town has 800 residents. She moved here with her husband 6 years ago from Christchurch. Their son goes to boarding school in Christchurch because it’s the closest school to accommodate his sports team education. She also told me that 80 percent of the housing in this town is for tourists. We went to the pools and spent 2-3 hours. I was feeling much better after moving about in the hot mineral pools. We stopped to get a sandwich on our way back to our cabin. It wasn’t very good, and that happens. Sometimes we get showstopper food and sometimes we don’t! lol! Nomad Notes: This week I had a couple of days at Hanmer Springs that I wasn't feeling good. I'm writing this on December 1st in retrospect. I felt fragile and needed to rest and just be. Darrell was understanding and helps me with whatever I ask him. I go inward in these times and pray for help, care and guidance while I'm getting through my 'episode'. This one was beginning to lift by Friday evening but I was still being cautious with my energy and my thoughts. On Friday morning I played myself some hymn music on youtube that I like and hadn't listened to in a while. It helped me also sing along and lift and my heart. |
Comments
Post a Comment