This morning we emptied our sewage tank for the first time. It was quite easy and not smelly at all. Then we headed out. We had a fairly long drive from Kaikoura to Motueka, about 4 hours, however, with construction we anticipated it would take significantly longer. Before leaving we drove by a lavender farm. It wasn’t open yet but I walked up the driveway and took a couple of pictures.
We enjoyed the coastal views for the beginning of the drive, then headed inland and Rick thought it looked like the Adirondacks. We drove into Marlborough which is the wine producing region. Grape vines replaced sheep and there were grape vines for as far as the eye could see. There were lots of vineyards that we could have stopped at for a tasting but it was only 10am and it seemed a little early for wine. We have done wine tastings in other parts of the world so we didn’t feel like we were missing much.
We continued on our journey and came to a one lane bridge which is quite common. They have a sign indicating which direction has priority. It was over a beautiful stream and it had a good place to park on the other side so we stopped to take a picture. We took our pictures and then noticed a sign indicating there was a suspension bridge that was only a 10 minute walk away. We walked to the bridge and took some more pictures.
We continued driving through mostly tree covered mountains. Every so often we would see a big area that had been clear cut. And when I say clear cut, I mean a bald mountain. Some areas had been clear cut several years ago and had been replanted. It looks like the clear cutting is well managed which doesn’t surprise us as New Zealand seems like a very environmentally friendly country.
We drove through Nelson which is a fairly large town and saw a sign to Hoglund Art Glass Gallery so we stopped there. They had beautiful glass items but not anything that we liked that would fit in our suitcase.
A little way further we arrived at our campground in Motueka which is near Abel Tasman National Park. We got to our assigned parking spot and just relaxed for a while. After some lunch I went to the office and asked about a local walk as well as walks in the park. After consulting them we booked a trip to the park for tomorrow and headed out for a walk along the bike trail next to the beach in Motueka. It was low tide as you can see in these pictures.
We walked for about 5 miles and when we arrived back at the camper it was time for dinner. We went to a little place in town. I tried to have a burger but it is a law in New Zealand that they have to cook hamburgers well done! I chose something else. We talked to the owner and he said the well done hamburger law was passed last year and was somewhat controversial. He also said that New Zealanders don’t really make a big deal about eating and it is reflected in the restaurants which generally are OK but not great. He also said the food is so expensive because everything is taxed at 15%, even food. He told us some other interesting NZ facts:
- The total population is about 5 million and 4 million live on the north island.
- On the south island you are never more than 100 km from the ocean
- The south island is the same area as Great Britain
We went back to the campground and relaxed for awhile. The All Blacks were playing so at 10pm I went to the TV room expecting a lot of rowdy All Blacks fans. There was just a man and his son. It turns out to watch the game live you needed to pay so it was delayed by at least an hour on the campground’s TV. I went to bed. The All Blacks won without me cheering for them. They came in third in the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand is use to winning so this was a disappointing result.
Here’s our route from Kaikoura to Motueka.
