Motueka and Abel Tasman Park

We took a 5 day trip over the last weekend with the end location being the Farewell Spit which is the northern most point of the south island. We were a bit uncertain on the drive time so decided to spend the night outside of Nelson at Motueka. The weather for the entire weekend was great - sunny, clear and in the 50s - great for hiking! We stayed at a chalet on a small hobby farm that produced hazelnuts, macadamia nuts and various flowers and greenery for florists in New Zealand.  We did buy a 1/2 kilo bag of dried macadamias in the shell that we will need to shell. While I love macadamias, there is a lot of work and time involved in getting to the nut. When the nut drops from the tree, one must collect them, peel off the green husk and then allow the nut in the shell to dry for 3 - 4 months before you can crack them with a hammer. It seems that they are so hard that nutcrackers won't work. I can now understand why they are so expensive!

Our chalet with the eucalyptus trees on the left

Macadamia trees

Eucalyptus trees

View from our front porch

Motueka is a big fruit growing area and there were apple orchards near this farm and also green and golden kiwi farms. In order to get to Takaka, we had to cross Takaka Hill. We weren't certain what to expect but did not really expect it to be a mountain since all the brochures called it a hill. It was only 30 minutes to cross over but the ice and snow on the mountain pass did not make it an easy drive. We stopped at Hawkes lookout. As I said, the weather was so clear that we were able to look across the bay and see Nelson.

 The white 'line' at the base of the mountains across the bay is Nelson.

Another shot from the lookout across the bay

 Snow of the trail - our first snow that we got to touch!

Don't these rocks look like the fake rocks you see at Six Flags or Disney World? These are real! They are karst.

 This photo is for Joelle. When she first went to New Zealand for her honeymoon, she brought me a bone carving necklace that looked like a snake. We used to play cards and board games quite a lot and I was usually pretty lucky. One night I was particularly lucky and someone called out "viper bitch." So, when she saw the snake necklace, she just had to get it for me. The shop owner was a bit dismayed that she was purchasing this for her Mom since it was a carving of taniwha. It seems that kids in New Zealand were warned about taniwha like we were when our parents told us the boogeyman was going to get us. She explained the card/game thing and they all had a good laugh. When we say this sign on the trail, Ernie insisted that we get a shot of this. So, here you go Joelle!

This photo of Mount Duppa is for everyone who know that we (Polish folks) call one's bum a duppa. Thought this was pretty funny.

That's all for this post - more about the trip in my next post.