After a day’s work we went to the Victoria Domain for a walk. This is a smallish natural reserve around the coast (or at least the bit we walked around). We elected to walk to Bob’s Bay, up through a wooded hill along a path cut by hand by one Doug (or so said a […]
Sweet noodles
For lunch we went down to the main road in Picton where we had been told there was a noodle bar that made surprisingly good noodles. I had a tom yum with noodles, which was decent, though much too sweet. The Gentleman Friend had a pad thai which was surprisingly good though also too sweet. […]
House by the hill
After a morning of packing, cleaning and tidying, we packed our bags into the dinghy. I was quite wrong, they fit. Though I had to hold on to one bag, belonging to the Gentleman Friend, very expensive and not waterproof, and balanced on the prow. We arrived in Picton and five minutes later we were […]
Uphill again
Our final full day in the bay. Matters had come to something of a head as we had nothing planned for the next week, with the next fixed point being Blenheim to stay with another cousin. Everything seemed very booked up. We had hoped to go to Kaikoura, but there was nothing to be found […]
At sea
In the mid-morning we took out the kayaks and explored the bays in the Sounds, drifting over turquoise water along steep green wooden hills with the occasional boatshed peeping out. We paddled out towards the open sea, though, where the waves grew high and there were strong winds and currents, and it took all my […]
Three planes of light
It was a working day again, though not a very busy one. Afterwards we went up to the house for another very good dinner and more relaxed, easy conversation than we’d had the night before. On returning to the boatshed there were glowworms in the undergrowth and bright stars in a moonless sky above, the […]
To the sounds
In the morning we left Nelson. It was rather sad to say goodbye to the Gentleman Friend’s mother, she is in a place second only to my own mother for me. She was flying to Auckland later that morning and then on homewards to London afterwards. (I am writing this sitting on a jetty, watching […]
Still raging
The fire outside Nelson is burning hard, and another has started on Rabbit Island, the wooded bit opposite the narrow part of the estuary in Mapua. Our hosts from the last few days came to say goodbye and were clearly very shaken, and an artist friend of theirs whom we met a couple of times, […]
Fires over Nelson
We arrived in Nelson this afternoon after a really excellent lunch, the best restaurant meal I’ve had in New Zealand. We’ve rented a small house, and it feels very strange indeed to have a house, with two levels and multiple rooms, all of which are accessible. A preview of a more settled future perhaps? Then, […]
Golden Bay
Today we went to Golden Bay. We left at around 9.30, with our hosts the Lady Scandalous and Grumpy Knight up front, driving, me and the Gentleman Friend in the back. Along the way we drove through the little town of Motueka which is tipped to be the next big thing in the region. The […]