29th May 2015
......... Is moving day from our lovely home in Cromwell 😢
To be fair I had mentally moved out and when the NZ movers came in the morning to take all our stuff to put it in storage I was OK. We had been so busy packing,sorting and cleaning for weeks that in some ways I was even relieved.
Silly as it may sound we have 'a thing' with this house that every time we came in we said 'hello house'. OK I said it was silly but it had become a ritual for both us so when we stood there just before leaving in our now empty rooms and Derek said 'bye bye house' I just burst.
We went across the road to hug and say goodbye to Lindsay and Glennis and I just couldn't stop crying(we had already said bye to Paddy and Elaine as they were off to Dunedin). We couldn't have wished for a nicer set of neighbours, not just them but the whole street really - lovely people.
So farewell to Cromwell for now, the new owner Rae is settling in and sending us nice comments about the house. She has already met Lindsay as she couldn't get into the garage so they will all soon get to know each other and she will love the house as much as we did. After all it is just a house, the memories we take away from it are what counts.
So our adventure starts from here and off we went to Wanaka after saying bye to Alister as well
We were spending the night at the Wyndham on the shores of Lake Wanaka, nice and cosy room 305. We did the long walk in to town from there along the lake shore with a keen wind following us all the way. They still had snow on the ground from earlier in the week but the walk back wasn't so bad. We ate in the Lake Bar, Monteiths really, where we have been many times and had a great meal, lovely waitresses. Then back in our rooms we settled down and had the best nights sleep we have had for weeks.
30 May 2015
After breakfast we packed up our very overloaded car and headed to Haast on the West Coast and as usual it was raining. After a quick stop for a coffee at the cafe we went to Ship Cove to see the stormy Tasman sea and get blown about by the wind. We love this place in all weathers.
Did I say that Derek had grown a beard? I quite like it x
Though a few days on it has gone!
We didn't spend too long here as we had a 5.5 hour drive ahead of us but it was good to stop and look.
The scenery going north from here is lots of native bush, rivers and one lane bridges but not much of the coast. Not that it mattered as it was pouring by the time we got to Franz Joseph. We hit a small boulder in the road just before we got there, part of a rock slide that happens alot here when it rains but Dolores coped well!
Lunch at Speights was good with netball from Australia to watch on the TV. It is the second most popular sport to watch after rugby in NZ so is on a lot which is great.
So back in the car for the last leg up to Hokitika and the wonderful coast comes in to view again.
We got to Hokitika in time for sunset and it stopped raining too, just as the forecast said it would. So before booking in at the small but comfortable Bella Vista where we have stayed before, we drove down to the beach to take photos.
The beaches are black here which make the whole thing look quite dramatic against the stormy sea and skies.
31 May 2015
So we woke to a gorgeous sunny and frosty morning and after a quick breakfast we were on the move again for another five hour journey north - about 800 kms in all. We stopped at the beach to have our last look at the coast.
The cows in the next field to us were very curious watching us in this wild place. They have a great view, Ocean on one side and the Southern Alps with views of Mount Cook on the other.
Just before Greymouth we came across this great bridge for rail and car to share; there didn't seem to be any 'traffic lights' to control who had right of way but as the railway line is mainly for the coal mines we just presumed that they may not go every day. Love this structure though!
Going in to Greymouth we were met with the creepiest natural vision, cloud crawling down the hills behind the city which looked spectacularly weird. Julie said it looked like a Tsunami and I think she is right.
So inland we go towards Buller and into the lovely pine covered mountains, it's so beautiful. A quick stop at a great cafe in Murchieson and we got to Nelson, our final destination at 3pm.
Home for the next month is room 6 at the Arcadia Motel where we have a nice warm and comfortable three rooms, much smaller than we have become used to so a good deal of adaptation is required by U.S., it is lucky we get on so well! It is run by a nice couple and their children, he is from Bournemouth, lived round the corner from where I grew up and went to the same primary school as me!!! How small is this beautiful world of ours!!!
After checking in we drove the minutes drive to the beach (we took the car as we were popping to Countdown for provisions) and had a quick walk on Tahunanui Beach. It seems to stretch for miles as the vista disappears in to the sea at the Abel Tasman National Park a place we hope to be spending a bit a our time in.
So now is the time to relax and breath a sigh and see what happens next!
White rabbits white rabbits and June is here, the first day of Winter.
And a day off in NZ as it is the Queens birthday.
It was a showery day but 'sales' day and I haven't shopped in a long while so it was time to go to Farmers and buy some jeans that fit ( does stress make you put on lots of weight? If not the lack of sleep for the last month and eating what is left in the freezer had made me put on 3kgs.!!!)
Also went to No. One Shoes and bought a pair of boots as I threw away three pairs in the rubbish before we left that I have 'made do' with for the past year.
We popped in to the Lambretta Cafe for coffee and a slice for lunch, a great cafe with a good atmosphere and it was packed.
Derek loves scooters - they make him feel young and reckless xx
We had a nice walk round town passed Old St Johns church which is such a nice clapboard building ....
...... then down through Queens Gardens to the public swimming pool by the river where we intend to spend some time swimming and joining in the aqua aerobics in my bid to lose some of this weight. I need to lose two stone so will join Rosemary Conley again when I get back to the UK as that worked for me last time. That will take me about a year!!!
2 June 2015
So today it is literally pouring down, I haven't seen rain like this for a long long time, we don't get this stuff in Cromwell but it is 16 degrees and is a chilly 2 degrees back there. All the merino jumpers I have brought with me are a bit redundant at the mo but am sure it will get colder but not much. Which is why we have lemons and limes growing in the Motel here as the temperature is much kinder, huge trees hanging with fruit and we were thrilled with our little lemon tree!
So today we are kicking back as we can't do much else. Derek is watching 'Class of '92' so is in a happy place as it's about football. This afternoon we are going to hide away in the cinema and going to see 'Tomorrowland' with George Clooney and Britt Robertson which looks good and a great way to spend a wet day. Tomorrow is time for Aquafit!!!
Wish me luck!