Road Trip: Day Three

Mr Bear's 26th Birthday, yey!

And what a birthday it turned out to be!

We ate our banana on toast brekkie on the edge of the pebbley shore, overlooking Rabbit Island, while the sun extended her warm rays across our faces. Brendan and I revealed Martin's present from the Hulse clan: a brand new rounders set. He'd asked whether Bren would be able to bring one over with him as some of the Brits at work had longed for a game and the Kiwi's wanted to find out what it was! No mention was made of it again until Brendan told me about his experience with customs and the funny look he'd be given when he told them the wood in his suitcase was a rounders set. 'Like cricket', he'd said. They frowned.

After paying for our stay, the Scottish owner of the campsite tipped Martin off about a good day out in the Golden Bay region at a salmon farm. Free entry and use of the equipment sounded good to us!

But first I wanted to visit a place called Jester House that my friend Josie had told me about. The Tasman region's first country garden café, set in beautiful green grounds with hidden craft and sculptures, it was a perfect place to stop for a coffee and a birthday cupcake. 

This isn't the only reason I wanted to pay a visit though. The house lays alongside the Aporo stream, the natural habitat of the NZ long finned eel, who come to visit the house between September and May to be hand-fed by the patrons of the café. We paid $2 for a pot of mince and a lolly-pop stick and headed to the river bank to find the eels. There wasn't much searching required! The eels were already gathered around the rocks in the stream, hungrily popping their heads out of the water and opening their mouths.

We headed out to the town of Motueka next, where we booked a water taxi for the next day to take us out for a walk in the Abel Tasman region. And then off over the hills to golden bay in search of salmon, passing Lord of the Rings locations and the site of Dwarven caves.

The three of us had never really fished before so we were slightly unsure upon arrival of the level of skill required to partake. But apparently, it would be pretty hard even for a beginner not to catch a salmon in an ornamental lake teeming with fish since it's fed directly by a breeding pool!

Still, the prospect of having to spike our salmon in the head once we'd caught it worried us. But, since the lady had told us it could be 10-20 mins before we caught anything, we thought we'd have time to come to terms with the prospect then.

After a quick lesson on how to cast out and reel in, we picked a spot on the lake at the opposite end to the other fishers and I opted to go first. I intended to use my first attempt to get used to the rod and remarked 'I've not cast out far enough'. I got half way through my sentence and felt a sharp tug on the end of the line. I felt panic as I had not been expecting to feel anything so soon and rushed Martin to grab the net to fetch it from the bank once I'd reeled it close enough. All of a sudden, we had a salmon in a box and didn't know whether we should catch another or just head back to the farm kitchen after 5 minutes worth of fishing! We decided one would be enough between 3 of us and we didn't know how much it would weigh (they were priced at $19 a kg).

Passing a group who had a box of about 4 or 5 fish, a gentleman decided to tell me the experience would have lasted longer and the fish been easier to catch if I'd reeled it in slower and tired it out. As he was talking, a fish from his box pushed past the lid and jumped onto the grass, wiggling its way back towards the lake whilst one of his companions chased after it. I had to bite my tongue a little.

The farm offered to fillet or smoke your fish for you free of charge, so we opted to have ours smoked with lemon and pepper. The whole thing cost us around $30, with drinks and garlic ciabatta portions. The best value lunch I've ever had! And the freshest fish too, at about 15 mins from hook to fork. 

We then drove back over the hills to Marahau where we would be taking our water taxi from the following morning. After setting up camp at 'Old MacDonald's Farm' (no kidding), we had a three player game of rounders and a walk along the stream before turning in.

Hope you had a nice day Marts!

Wardrobe Wednesday

Dress: Primark (with Bamboo Bear customising!)

Skinny Jeans: Cotton On

Trusty Red Cardy: Primark

Ikat handbag: Vintage

Red Wedge Sandals: Number One Shoes

Rose necklace: a present from my Grandma

Apologies for the interruption to the scheduled programme of travel diaries, but I thought I'd squeeze a little Wardrobe Wednesday in as well this week, just to mix things up a bit!

I'm having a very matchy-matchy day today, not something that happens often. I don't tend to focus on colour co-ordination when choosing my outfit for the day, but it's nice when it kind of happens by accident anyway!

My dress is a very old Primark purchase that I decided to jazz up by adding applique hearts and red decorative stitching to the edges. 

I'm going through a polka-dot phase at the moment. I went shopping with Mr Bear on Saturday and everything I picked up was spotty, dotty or blotchy! I ended up buying a polka dot skirt and blouse and wore them to work on Sunday. Is it OK to wear spots together do you think? I felt confused all of a sudden but Mr Bear liked it!

My shoes I also bought on Saturday as No1 shoes had 30% off wedges over labour weekend and I saw these babies last time I was there but restrained myself. Hard to do a second time!

Anybody else going through a certain phase with clothes at the moment?

Road Trip: Day Two

We woke the next day eager to continue our pattern of spotting amazing wildlife and set out on the road in search of a little known of place which I had been tipped off about by a couple of friends. 

Twenty minutes North of Kaikoura is a blue caravan called 'Nin's Bin', a famous purveyor of crayfish and a favourite stop on a traditional Kiwi family holiday. The delicacy itself was a little out of our modest price range (the smallest fish priced at $56, going up beyond the $100 mark), but the stop off made worthwhile by a bunch of Chinese tourists who insisted on having their picture taken with their intended lunch before it was cut in half and cooked. The crayfish didn't seem to happy about partaking in a cheesy holiday snap!

Ten minutes further down the road, I'd been told to look for a car park on the right which would be marked with a sign reading 'waterfall walk'. We only just caught sight of it and quickly pulled in, amongst a handful of other campers.

I'd been told that in the basin of water beneath the waterfall, mother seals would leave their babies during the winter months while they went off to hunt in the sea. You won't find any info on this site in guidebooks or the net, as the conservationists are trying to keep its location under wraps, so I was lucky to hear about it.

We weren't sure if we'd be too late, it being the start of spring already. But as the sound of the falling water reached our ears, our eyes were greeted with the sight of several streaking black creatures, snaking in and out of the water. Tears of amazement came to my eyes. I couldn't believe how lucky we were to catch this rare sight. 

The seals happen upon the spot every year, while searching for somewhere to rest away from predators. The infants spend the first 12 months of their life there, frolicking in the water, sleeping on the rocks and in the woods and eventually venturing down the river to the shore when they get hungry. Only around half of them will make it into adulthood when they leave the safety and seclusion of their shelter for the open sea.

Wandering back to the camper, still caught in a trance of wonderment, we set off to Nelson, the Northern-most city of the south island. To get there, we passed through the picturesque Marlborough sounds and enjoyed the stunning views of the Queens Charlotte Drive.

By the time we reached Nelson, the sky had turned from brilliant blue to moody grey and the heavens began to open. After a desperate hour or so trying to find somewhere to park up for the night, we came across a good campsite in Ruby Bay, opposite the tree covered Rabbit Island and settled in for a dinner of sausage and soup!

Road Trip: Day One

Firstly, apologies for the delay in publishing these posts. It's Labour weekend here in NZ so Miss and Mr Bear have been enjoying a sunny bank holiday.

And now down to business. The road trip journaling begins!

 On Sunday 30th September at 10am, we went to collect our trusty 4-berth campervan from Apollo. After some confusion regarding whether the camper we had chosen would sleep 3 adults or solely 2 adults and a couple of kiddy-winks, we were on the road back to the flat to fill our little home for the next two weeks with a bunch of clothes, insect repellent, sun cream, food and a whole load of other stuff that can come in handy when camping (most of which you will forget is there and never use!)

We were spending our first night at the seaside destination of Kaikoura, on the east coast of the south island. Famous for whale watching escapades and its large variety of marine life, at just 2 hours drive away, it's somewhere we have been intending to visit for some time. We set off around noon and arrived at our campsite at 3pm, after stopping off just outside of Christchurch for some grub.

After a quick scout around the place and a run around on the black sandy beach behind the campsite (where we happened across a very holey washed up little shark and chased a seal swimming in the seal in the distance), we drove into the town to see what was about.

Turning off at a sign marked 'viewing platform', we parked up on top of a hill overlooking the town, shore and looming snow-capped mountains. There we met a seagull who decided to launch into a squawking contest with me (I won, naturally), watched yellowheads streak across the skies and observed some interesting cloud formations, one of which looked very much like a light bulb.

As if driven by the light bulb of inspiration, I remembered seeing a sign as we turned off marked 'seal colony'. Not one to miss the opportunity for a good bit of wildlife watching, I instructed Mr Bear to follow the sign! 

We arrived at a small car park on the shore and immediately beheld the shape of a large male seal dominating the milky blue skyline. Standing well back from the recommended distance of 10m, I was hit by the stink of the beast. There's simply no other way to describe it. They are stinky buggers! We were amazed we could smell him so strongly from so far away, before noticing there were several other seals sleeping much nearer, concealed in the bush beside us. 10m observing distance was out of the window!

We drove back into the town for a pint and a sit down to contemplate our travel plans. When Martin asked Brendan what he thought of his Tui beverage, Bren remarked "It's not bad, for a lager" and was horrified when we revealed Tui is actually an 'ale'. Enough said on that one.

The Day After Arrival

A few days have passed now since the departure of my brother and he is safely back in England now (hopefully bragging about New Zealand to all and sundry!) I feel normality is slowly returning and I'm due back at work on Sunday so I guess then it will truly be business as usual!

Over the coming days, I will be posting daily (or more, if I'm able) with pictures and stories from our travels over the last couple of weeks. Today, I thought I'd write a run down of Brendan's first day in New Zealand.

I'd booked a punt down the River Avon for 10am the day after Bren landed and was slightly worried this would be a little too early to rise for someone suffering from a jet-lag induced head cold. But Martin assured me he'd be well awake by then. He was right. And I was over the moon I wouldn't have to cancel since I'd been dying to show him around the Botanical Gardens, my favourite place in the city.

After arming myself with a bag full of bog roll to stem the brother's constantly running nose and some painkillers, we set out. I've only been punting once with an ex-flatmate who took us for free so I'd missed all the commentary. There were so many things I didn't know about the gardens! Spread over an area of 52 acres, they were originally commissioned by Queen Victoria and designed by top English landscapers. On 9th July, 1863, an oak was planted to commemorate the wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. It is one of the many majestic giants that call the gardens their home. Others come from Asia, South America and the Mediterranean, most over 120 years old.

We drifted past a black swan sitting on her eggs on a giant nest made from mud and branches, sailed under a bridge where a swallow flew back and forth from her nest, feeding the chicks, saw a male Paradise Duck (AKA a shell duck) trying to rid the Avon of Mallards in an attempt to protect his female from unwanted attention and came under the scrutiny of the yellow eyed diving duck.

An experience which probably should have ended with a relaxing afternoon spent on the banks of the river. But being the pest of a little sister I am, I decided to take Bren on a walk around the city, probably somewhere around 3km, to my favourite cafe - Black Betty - for lunch and a drink. Remarkably, he managed to finish his bacon and egg pie; quite a feat since jet lag tends to render you appetite less.

I remembered how I felt when we first arrived, body tired but mind racing, wanting to explore and see new things. I suggested we take a drive to the seaside town of Sumner and have a sit on the esplanade, looking out to sea. Brendan readily agreed, after I'd made a flask on lemon and honey to take with us!

By the time Martin arrived home from work, Brendan was nearly asleep on his bed, with me sat on the edge wittering to him in a vain attempt to keep him awake. Sometimes you just have to succumb to sleep....while others go get pizza :) You snooze, you lose.

Wardrobe Wednesday

Pussybow Blouse: handmade by Bamboo Bear

Rust Blazer: vintage find from The British Heart Foundation

Woven Leather Belt: Op Shop

Shorts, Sunnies and Tights: The Warehouse

Suede Moccasins: K-Mart

Hello readers and welcome to the return of Wardrobe Wednesdays, after a little break away. I've actually cheated a little this week as this picture wasn't taken today but last week :-/ It was a wednesday though! I'm sure I can be forgiven :)

I'm also very excited to show off my new photo skills acquired through the use of a brand spanking new Bamboo tablet brought from the UK for me by my brother. I had lots of fun yesterday playing around with it and practicing drawing smooth lines. I'd read it takes a bit of getting used to and it definitely feels weird at first, but I'm steadily getting better!

I will be using it to create some embroidery designs to sell as kits in the Make Cafe where I start work at the end of the month. So excited! It is the perfect job :)

I'll hopefully get round to writing my first travel post tomorrow. Nearly over the moping stage after sending Brendan home two days ago. I will start uploading pics of our trip away on my flickr tonight too so stay tuned!

Oh and here's an animation of my outfit too with me doing what little sisters do best: silliness...

Holidaying Bear

You may have been wondering where Bamboo Bear had got to these last couple of weeks. You may also wonder why Miss Bear did not inform you earlier of her absence. This would be because Miss Bear got so excited about the imminent arrival of Brother Bear, she couldn't think of anything else in the days leading up to his landing.

I am sad to inform you, however, that I have just returned from the airport to send said Brother Bear back to the land from whence we came. I am not sad, however, to say we had the most splendidest time while he was with us and journeyed all around the South Island and Christchurch together, seeing many a wonderful thing. In the coming days, I will be writing daily posts detailing our adventures with many pictures and a few brilliant videos that really capture the essence of our explorations down under.

For now, I will leave you with this picture of Daddy Bear wearing his birthday present from me, courtesy of Brother Bear. Doesn't he look dashing? :)

Please excuse my short post today. I am a jumble of emotions and don't feel up to more just yet. But I'm sure it will be business as usual very soon. I already feel my acceptance of being here has grown after sharing my home with someone I love. Thanks Bren :)