Nicks Big Adventure

Howdy and Kia Ora y'all. Its been a while but I have had very little to write about these last few days. That mixed with spotty connections had lead to my delay. Motueka was a nice little town for me to walk around in. I spent the whole day walking along the inlet and around town. It has lots of craft shops and veggie stands. Then it was back to Nelson to get some more work done on the van, minor work and not too costly. Nelson kept me entertained with disc golf and hiking trails. I even waited out a storm and got to watch the All Blacks win against the irish in the last minute of the game. Then it was off to Okiwi Bay. North of Nelson is the Marlboro Sounds area. Sounds are like fjords but created by river valleys not glaciers. So instead of seeing dramatic cliffs that rise out of the water there is a soft slope up to the peaks. Glaciers are a powerful force that move everything and anything out of its way. Rivers meander and wind so sounds come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. One such area I got to see while I was out near Okiwi Bay is French Pass. This is a 125 meter gap between the mainland and an island. In this gap there are rocks that act as a strainer, lowering the depth of water to 5 meters in some places. When the tide turns water rushes one way or the other through the pass creating eddies and whirlpools. It is a spectacular site. I stayed in the smallest campground in New Zealand in that bay. It was run by a nice couple that hosted social hour in their lodge home on the site. Here I could sit by a fire and watch the news every evening. I went from there to Havelock, another small town by the sea. It is the mussel capital of New Zealand. They farm mussels on rafts in inlets all over the area. I wanted to go hiking and sight seeing but it was foggy and cloudy most of the day. Today I will hike to some lookouts and get ready for the final match between the All Blacks and the irish. I promise I will come up with some good stories soon. My mind has been else where and I have not been able to concentrate on writing. Have a great weekend everyone! Peace Love and Pura Vida. Nicholas