Well, we are now firmly ensconced in Nelson.
Our apartment motel is right downtown; a block from a movie theatre (yeah), two blocks from the strip of shops (double yeah), and the other direction is 2-3 blocks from the centre of New Zealand (yeah, yeah, yeah!). So, we lucked out on the choice. And the two woman who run the place (Aly and Robin) could not be nicer. We have a large 2 bedroom apartment with all the amenities - so we are really enjoying it for sure!
After close to two months of moving around every 5 days Ted is happy to fully unpack and ‘live’ in one spot for 3 weeks …
We are being lazy too knowing we have so much time in Nelson. We have been to the beach a few times, Ted entered the swim portion of a triathlon and came in 2nd in his age group (he did great!), went to the VIP movies to see Flight Risk (good movie actually), hiked to the top and centre of New Zealand, shopped of course :-), toured around wine country with CJ on a private wine tour (which was excellent), did an epic bike ride (69kms) - story to follow on that one, and just lazed around and enjoyed ourselves.
Below are a few pics from our epic bike ride - which admittedly was an exceptional day of sun and blue skis and a ferry ride, halfway through the ride, to Mapua (a delightfully little town where there are lots of restaurants and funky little shops).
And did I mention we also did some birding. It’s official, I know live with a birder and he’s going insane in New Zealand … I am his trusty guide (ears and eyes) and he points and shoots with his camera - a great team!
Tomorrow we are off to Able Tasman and Kaiteriteri to take the water taxi 2 hours (yes, 2 hours) to the start of our hike - wish me luck on the boat … We booked the tour on Friday when we were in Motueka, which is the gateway to Abel Tasman - we are excited for this hike, as it will be epic; drop off at 10:55am and pick up at 5:15pm so it will be an all dayer for sure … But the landscape will be stunning. We have hiked previously in Able Tasman, but not this part of the trek, as it requires days to do all of it, so we opted to do a huge part of what we did not accomplish in 2023.
Today is more hiking around the centre of New Zealand, after the weekly market (did I say the shopping here is only steps from our front door lol).
Cheers from Nelson,
Robert and Ted
Hi Robert, Hi Ted,
Have been enjoying reading your posts and looking at your pictures. You both must be in fabulous shape with all your hiking and swimming. Hope you continue to have a wonderful time.
Much love,
Joanne