Archives August 2017

We decided to take a trip before Sona’s cousin (Hari) left for Nepal.  After some discussion, we settled on a trip to Nelson via the ferry.  The first leg of our trip was actually a town called Takaka near the Abel Tasman Park.  We left on a Wednesday and took the 3 hour ferry ride across which was peaceful and weather was fantastic.  We ate lunch in Picton and than proceeded to drive almost 3 hours to Takaka.  The drive was up and down several mountains including Takaka Hill and I was getting restless with all the windy roads.  We finally made it down and found out chalet for the night.  Great location close to downtown even though it was a little chilly at night.  We went to the Fresh Choice to get some meats since our place had a grill and proceeded to have a nice barbeque that night with some wine.  Aiden enjoyed walking around the chalet area and got some nice pictures.  The next morning we had breakfast at a nice place called Wholemeal Café and then took a drive to see Wanui Falls.   The walk to Wanui Falls was supposedly 30 minutes but 20 minutes into the hike, the bridge that led to the falls collapsed and the trail was closed.  We had to turn around but did manage to walk down to the river and take some pictures of the rapids.

Our next destination was Golden Bay kayaking but right before we got there, an angry Kiwi pulled us over and scolded us about throwing away Aiden’s diaper on the grass.  We only did it because there was no trash can anywhere.  We ended up going back and picking it up and disposing of it properly.  The kayaking was also closed for the day so we ended up going back into town and had lunch at a burger place.

Next stop was Nelson and we got there around 5 PM and the studio apartment was nice and walking distance to all the attractions.  We found an Indian café that night and did takeaway.  Next morning, we went on a hike to the Center of New Zealand which took around 20 minutes.  Got some great shots of the city.  After the hike, we walked around town and that evening, Sona and I went alone to see a movie called Logan Lucky.  It was okay but I thought it would be better.

Our last day in Nelson we went to Church Hill where Aiden planted some pinwheels which was part of a Guinness world record event.  Then we went to Founders Park and had some local brew and coffee.  Afterwards, we went to Japanese gardens and walked around.  That evening, we found a fantastic sushi place called Masa’s and had a good meal.

All in all, it was a great trip and we covered a lot of things in only 4 days.  Loved Nelson and plan to come back at some point before we leave.

For 2017, my birthday fell on a  Saturday and after an initial thunderstorm, the weather turned out great.  Sona and I first went to the vegetable market to pick up food and we shared a Chinese crepe which is our tradition there after shopping.  We all took an hour to get ready at home and than proceeded on our road trip.  The plan was to first go to Martinborough to hang out at a Vineyard and then in late afternoon drive to Cape Palliser to hopefully see some seals.  The vineyard we went to (Margain Vineyards) was also celebrating it’s 25th birthday anniversary and I decided to have some lasagna along with a glass of Pinot. Sona and Hari had pizza and a salad.  Aiden was sleeping the entire time during lunch but woke up after we finished.  We drove to downtown Martinborough and had a smoothie and bought brownie and chicken dippers for Aiden.  Around 3:00, we made the drive to Cape Palliser which took almost an hour and a half.  It was quite spectacular though and the payoff were some seals!  Not just one or two but around 15!  The lighthouse was amazing too even though we didn’t climb the steps going to the top.  We drove back around 4:30 and arrived back home two hours later.  All in all, it was a memorable trip and fortunately no work related calls since I was on duty!