May 1

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

We awoke to a stunningly bright sunrise that was reflected off of the Tasman Bay. Josh stayed in bed as per usual. I came back to bed for awhile but we were both up and getting ready at 9. We bypassed the morning shower since we planned to drive out to Farewell Spit and maybe do some hiking. We were on the road by 10 am and the clouds and fog had started to roll in on the hill top.

Driving down the mountain in the day time, I could see the bright colors of the leaves as they were changing colors. I saw a really cool tree and thought about taking a picture but didn’t say anything till we were just past it. I had to go back to take a picture of the leaves. So, I did. While I was snapping away, Josh found $14.50 in the change area of the car. Good find! This was ironic because just before we left the cottage, Josh asked where he should put the $250+ cash he’d taken out of the ATM in PN to pay for the cottage. I said, don’t put it anywhere that doesn’t belong to you so even if you do forget about the money, it will still be in something that is yours. A good piece of advice it turns out.

We drove onward toward the Farewell Spit…onward over a mountain that made insane twists and turns. The clouds would come and go but we were rewarded with a spectacular valley view as we crossed to the other side of the mountain and started making our way down hill. Very nice. A mountain biker even pulled into the bay with us. Funny.

Too, that’s when Angela with PNP rang again and I was able to catch her on the phone. Explained that she was wrong about the time sheet thing and she agreed… No more work worries. We stopped into an I-site for information about how to best view the Farewell Spit while in the town of Takaka. Josh got all the details and a map and we were off again. We knew we didn’t have much time to explore because we had the Rotary meeting tonight and also we had that dang long trip back across the mountain!

We followed the map easily enough and could start to make out the hook shape sand dune spit in the distance. Then we detoured. The place we were going was called Cape Farewell and it is the northernmost point on the South Island. As we drove along the road we were bullied onto the rough shoulder (up against a mud embankment) by a red Takaka bus, I believe. He didn’t even try to share the road and in the end we were lucky that we only lost/found/broke a hub cap. The hub cap, to our defense, looks really cheap…kinda like the Sunny car itself that we’re driving.

So, we made it out to the car park of the Cape Farewell area. One group was leaving and one couple was there having a picnic out of the back of their car. The grass was so green and the sun was so bright. It was gorgeous- just like you think Easter or spring should be not fall. We walked past a gate (after confirming with the couple the right way to go) and onward 200 meters to the cape.

What a sight it was! I have always wanted to see an arch carved into the stone cliffs by an ocean and that was here. It was awesome to have no expectation of a place and to be so pleasantly surprised. We saw the sign confirming that this was the northernmost point. Then we walked up the hill along the dangerous cliff edge to see Farewell Spit in the distance. Josh did slip on the wet grass but he was in no danger of going over the edge.

However, he did step in poo…cow or sheep poo was undetermined but it was everywhere up there on the cliff and we soon understood why. The farmer at the bottom of hill released his sheep flock and up they began to bound toward us on the cliff top. We had to get back in order to prepare for Rotary so it was time to leave. The sheep got pretty close to us though and it was absolutely magnificent being out there in the sunshine on the coast. Just amazing.

Then, we had the long drive back. After buying expensive $1.63 or so gas the car made a funny noise on the side that’d gone off the road so we stopped in at two mechanics but both were too busy to help. We drove home and made it safely!

We quickly got ready…the outdoor shower was still awesome…Josh called to confirm we were still on for the Abel Tasman kayak tomorrow…then we headed out to Stoke/Tahanui Rotary. We made it no worries on time and got it all set up. We mingled, had a great dinner, lamb, pork, cauliflower (which I’ve grown to enjoy), potatoes, cheesecake, pavlova, custard). I had a diet coke and Josh had a beer.

The presentation went well and soon it was time to get back on the road to the cottage. We did drive down Swamp Road coming and going and did not see the remains of a kitten so we are optimistic that maybe we did not kill it (Josh says we just severely wounded it). As we came into Motueka, it was 8:29 and the New World closed at 8:30…the manager was even standing guard at the door…that’s NZ shop time for you. So, no milk for us tonight.

Back to the cottage and it started to rain just as we began to climb the hill up. Rain all you want tonight just don’t rain tomorrow on the kayak trip! Josh and I uploaded the recent pictures and deleted the old ones. I’ve updated the travel journal…wow, what an upgrade from the last paper versions I wrote on the previous two US roadtrips! Weather on the news was worthless as it was all fuzz and static noise. So, we’ll see what tomorrow holds. Josh is reading in bed and I’m off to join him….Crap, I just about had a heart attack as the rain just started back up falling on the roof…whew, that was a close one!