Friday morning was time to pack up and leave the hotel room and head to the airport for a flight to Nelson. I had quite a late flight so I spent the first couple of hours wondering around the waterfront area of Auckland and visited the Maritime Museum. This was a very interesting experienced, especially how the island was first colonised by the Polynesians over 700 years ago. It also gave a good account of the “endeavours” of James Cook (sorry about the pun) to claim the Island for Great Britain through to the Treaty of Waitangi giving the Maori sovereignty over their own land. It was also interesting to see how “whaling” (banned in the 1950’s) was to play an important part in the industrialisation of this nation
Replicas and models of "outriggers" that would have been used by early Maori settlers
After a short flight later that afternoon I arrived in Nelson. Nelson is the Northern most tip of the South island and it’s also where my wifes’ sister and family live so I delighted to pay them a visit. My wife and I last visited 11 years ago so it was quite strange to see my cute little niece and nephew (Joseph and Gemma) now as young adults studying at University. It was also nice to meet the youngster, Thomas, who I had only spoken to on the phone before.
Thomas and I chewing the fat at the racetrack
I stayed with Caroline and the kids for the weekend, which was really warm and sunny, and we did all sorts of local sight seeing. We went to the local market, visited the local beach where somebody had built a magnificent “hut” out of driftwood and even managed a few laps of the local Go-Kart track.
On Sunday the “Kids” took me North to the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park to a beautiful beach resort where we took a mountain track to some spectacular lookouts. On the way we stopped off at Jester House, a small Café site famous for, wait for it………feeding wild eels. After crossing a small wooden bridge over a tiney stream no more than 1.5m wide, imagine my amazement and excitement to see a couple of kids down by the waterside surrounded by these huge (the biggest had to be 7KG) eels. Needless to say I was so excited I charged into the shop and hastily paid for a little pot of meat scraps and scrambled down to the waters edge. For the next 20 mins I fed these wonderful creatures, stroking their slippery skin, as they writhed onto the rocks near my feet……awesome.
Joseph in the DIY beach hut made from driftwood
me feeding river monsters
It was great to catch up with family but all too quickly I had to move on.
last night family meal
No comments:
Post a Comment