Tuesday 2 February 2010

Picton to Motueka

Picton. After waiting so long and being near the end of the loading it was a bonus to be disembarking at the head of the line. I went straight for the library. It was crawling with tourists and their laptops. A sign on the table suggested limiting ones self to an hour. I rearranged my departure giving myself 4 more days on the South Island, reaching out to Jurgen in Nelson... (Not! turns out he is an hour north in Motueka) a fellow starting up an Eco-Village/intentional community. Caught up on some email and didn't charge my phone...
Boy did I regret that.
Sat outside and Skyped with Elke, the wireless reaches and doesn't disturb the patrons. That facilitated a conversation with a local fellow who was not impressed with tourists eating their breakfast in the library while checking their mail. "Foreigners" He wasn't too impressed with local gov't either allowing spraying of some toxic chemicals by some local logging contractor. And the phones! He maintained that New Zealand has the most expensive telephone coverage in the world... on and on.
I took the Queen Charlotte Drive out of Picton. Up and up it goes, switch backs galore with awesome views along the ridge looking across the sound. And speaking of sound, I managed to record the insects in the trees with a short video of the vista below above Havelock estuary of the Pelorus and Wakamarina Rivers. Behind me Mahau Sound, to the right Hikapu Reach.
I was stopping frequently until Havelock. The road turns inland, gets wider and the speed increases. Still lots of hairpins and up and down through a pine forest that looks combed, the rows are so straight. I stop again at Pelarus Bridge, there is an opportunity to walk for an hour to waterfalls but it is late in the day. This is a beautiful area, the river looks mighty inviting... Not a lot of traffic makes the driving easy.
Stop in Nelson to turn on my phone, check messages. Dead. Insert sim card in other phone, check messages attempt to return call... right, he can't hear me. The phone dance happens again with pay phones. Punching in expired numbers, I find a phone that takes coins. Does it ever! I did connect and after getting lost briefly in Richmond an hours driving has me standing by the clocktower in Motueka. Jurgen and family arrive, we go for ice cream then out to the property where I will camp for a couple of days.

Wellington Continued

Morning comes with a bit of wind, overcast still. I collect my frozen water containers and my food (except my carrots!!!) and make my departure. cruising down the hill I stop at the grocery to replenish supplies. I know where I am going today, Oriental Parade. It begins the drive around to the beaches and bays of Wellington. It is raining, but I stop anyway to take pictures as I follow the coastline around to the south. Some great possibilities for freedom camping here! The houses along some of this are one deep the cliff right up against the backdoor (if they have one) about halfway the batteries give out in the camera. I continue driving around. This is very cool, I like this place a lot. At the end of the road I find my spot for the night. I follow a road that takes me directly back to my first experience of driving in Wellington, Brooklyn. I continue on towards the ferry terminals. I want to be able to find them with as little trouble as possible in the morning. That done I return to the grocery.
Then I try to find the library. I asked someone who suggested it was, "way over that way, up the hill" These one way streets where left turns when the road veers right are restricted and vice versa are frustrating. I end up driving in circles! Finally I park the van and walk. And walk and walk and walk. Jeez I am not doing much better on foot! I do find it, very close to where I started out. I plug in my battery charger... nothing, try a different plug, try the laptop, yes there is power. Hmmm. Walk back to Dick Smith "your techperts" or whatever. The fellow there informs me I have fried my charger. NZ current is 240v to NA 120v. Yikes! I buy a charger. Walk back to the van to confirm with my 12v adaptor. Yep, fried.
I decide I need a respite. I drive up the hill and into the Botanical Gardens. Either I don't get peoples directions or they don't explain well. Either way I end up driving IN the Botanical gardens and park at the WWF centre in a visitor spot. I wander through, cameraless enjoying the peace of growing plants well cared for. New Zealand Native plants at risk, a fern garden and the Australian garden. Some fairly weird plants too. I enjoyed the signs indicating variety, and history. For comic relief I took the trolley down the hill, then up again. That was worth the $5.
After yesterday my feet get sore fast, so I plug in the charger and start driving. I am trying to get to Maraka Beach. Again the circles. Through tunnels, over viaducts, around mountaintops. Up down and around. Finally I ask a fellow who gives me quite precise instructions, over the viaduct, through the tunnel onto Chaytor Street then up Karoi Rd. Voila! I am through this maze and on my way. I see a wind farm then some signs indicating some displeasure? They say "DO SOMETHING" and pictures reminiscent of the "scream" Yet another winding road. I believe after some reading that my use of the word windy for winding has been incorrect. In any case this road winds around and ends at a beach where the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. I squeeze a couple more pictures out of the batteries. I leave the van running to maximize the charging.
I head back to Brooklyn and Happy Valley to Owhiro Bay, then back around to Scorching Bay turn around taking pictures at all the places I missed. Island Bay, Breaker Bay, Mahanga Bay. I see kite surfers in Lyall Bay in front of the airport, snap shots of some interesting houses. Now I am hungry, tired of cheese, salami and avocado sandwiches. Back to Brooklyn where the Golden Lotus grabs my eye. Chinese sounds good. Inside I discover it is now an Ethiopian menu. For $18 I get a wonderful meal and no tipping here, they get insulted! While I wait for the food I finally figure out the texting on this phone. The mode of finishing my words was really challenging me.
Drive back to Te Kopahou Reserve, walk on the beach for 20 min. and then crash.
In the morning I head out and guess what? Get downtown in Wellington and drive in #%&(@ circles again!
I am the third passenger vehicle to arrive, gate opens, drive in and wait. Write in my journal, make and eat my breakfast, peruse the map... They tie a lot of the vehicles down when the weather is bad, no one is allowed on the vehicle decks while we are sailing, the door is locked.
This boat has 10 decks childrens play area and movie theatre on deck 2, bar and cafeteria on deck 8, observation(outside) deck 10, private staterooms on deck 9 and all of us steerage hung out in the cafe and lounge on deck 7. All the tourists taking pictures as we left and then again when land was sighted. Arriving at the beginning of the south Island was dramatic. The pictures cannot, do not, come close.
Me I was feeling a sense of amazement and unreality as I landed. Here I am! I almost didn't believe it would happen.

On to Wellington

Already, I need another swim! Raumiti beach south appeals and I turn out of the traffic. Drive past the Te Ra Waldorf school through a funky little neighbourhood to a reserve. The sign says 30 minute coastal trail walk. Ok I walk up the track down the other side and there is the beach. Folks are seriously fishing here with long lines , hauling them out with a kayak. I go for a swim, not much surf here, Apiti Island dampens the waves. I don't stay long but as I am driving out I spy an amazing construction. Something I KNOW Doug Marsh can relate to. Entirely made of drift wood it reaches skyward about 30 or 40 feet. All around the place are concrete sculptures/statues and various wooden pieces. I wander in say hello and get permission to photograph. Apparently the artist is up at Organic River Fest, yes I saw him there, driftwood sculpture and setup for a booth.
Onward towards Wellington. Beautiful beaches and the road gets busier. I have some idea where I am going but when I arrive I am not prepared for the terrain. It is up and down and there are a lot of one way streets. I am completely flustered as I wander back and forth attempting to find Rowenas. Why do I expect everywhere to be flat ? This is extreme though and it is HOT, people are not patient with my driving stopping every 5 blocks to check the map. Needless to say I have not taken any pictures. I may do that tomorrow to illustrate my folly. Eventually I figure it out.
There are many people here, some for the ACDC concert tonight. I am camping in my van which at the moment is like an oven and it is on a slant. not many choices for parking I was lucky to find a spot. I hoped to stay with some folks but they are entertaining some friends this weekend so here I am. Not sure I want to spend too much time here.
I do my computer thing in the dining room (not much choice for plugging in) and meet Alex and Martin. They offer me their leftover salad and then later we chat about travel. They have been travelling together since Kerikeri. Tomorrow they part, Martin for South America he is on an around the world ticket, and Alex for the South Island. Tomorrow is also Martins birthday so tonight they celebrate. I tag along. First stop Liquor Barn for a beer each. Lots of choice (naturally) since I don't normally drink that often I try to choose a light one. I cannot keep up to these guys though, they had at least two each with dinner. We walk past a huge statue of Queen Victoria cross the street and enter an Irish pub. Not too many patrons, we sit on the balcony and watch people walk by and talk about travelling. They have two to my one. Suddenly a gust of wind, and again. The other folks go inside. Alex tells me Wellington is known for this wind which is really blowing fierce now. It blows the empty bottles off the table. We go in, have another beer. Then move on. More and more people are on the street as the night proceeds. We try another Irish bar and I try the Red. Not so good, although in this state I wouldn't want to make any important decisions. These guys smoke so we stand out front and watch people. The women especially are dressed what I would say provocatively. Short skirts, lots of cleavage and high heels. Oh and most of em look about 20.
The ACDC concert must be over the streets are FULL! Folks have devil horns on flashing lights with ACDC on them. We hit another bar, most of which have live music. This one has a Celtic band, a woman comes up to me, asks if I can dance. Takes my beer and hands it to someone and we dance. Throws her arms around me. Retrieves my beer.
Alex, I think, is trying to set up Martin with a young woman. She seems more interested in Alex, but hangs off of me a few times as well. the press of bodies here is incredible. I am drinking water now, which the bar tender finds amusing. There are 4 of them constantly making, mixing, pouring and taking money, bank and credit cards nonstop. Almost as much fun to watch.
We stagger out of there, well I did anyway, and return to the first Irish bar which is now wall to wall people In the toilet I overhear a fellow expressing his pleasure at how great the concert was and how worth it spending $160....!
We attempt to enter a few more places but dress code doesn't allow sandals. Wander back to the hostel, say g'night and.... they are gone in the morning.
By morning the rain starts, the wind gusts all night. I am still drunk. Slow morning. I walk to to Te Papa, the Museum here. It is free! I wander around looking at the exhibits, the place is thronging. I take a few pictures, read lots of info, learn about the native birds, many of which are extinct. I step out into the weather and wander around past the bars I visited the night before. Eventually I look around and wonder "where the hell am I?" On some level I know where I am but , I don't know where Rowenas is. Tramping down streets eventually I ask someone who knows where the statue of Queen Victoria is. Elke calls as I am setting up the computer. I make some dinner then sit and watch NZ tv for a couple of hours, then sleep.