March 28-29, 2019: Two Days in New Plymouth
March 30-April 1, 2019
We woke up way too early to get to the airport for our flight to Nelson. The drive to the airport was super short and we were one of the first ones there. Returning the car was no problem and there was no security to go through. We spent the early hours of the morning watching the sunrise and drinking coffee and chai lattes. We took to flights: one to Wellington and then a transfer to Nelson. The most interesting thing was having one entrance to multiple jetways.
When we arrived in Nelson, we had someone pick us up from the airport to take us to Shelbourne Villa Bed and Breakfast that we had booked for the next couple of nights. She drove us around town and showed us the main street downtown. Once we got settled in to our room, we took a short walk and grabbed lunch at Falafel Gourmet. We did our usual grocery run at Fresh Choice and ended the day with dinner at Nicola’s Cantina. We tucked in early for an early morning of kayaking the next day.
Abel Tasman Park
Dad and I woke up for a 6:30 am breakfast before hopping on a bus at 7:10 am for our “Beaches, Bay & Seals” tour. The bus drove us to Kaiteriteri where everyone checked in with their respective tour and guide. Once everyone was accounted for, we hopped on the Vista Cruise which took us to Abel Tasman National Park. From the boat, we took a dinghy to shore at Torrent Bay where we loaded up into kayaks and enjoyed the scenery. We took the time on another sandy shore for lunch and a walk. We took the same route back after a full day of sun.
Along our tour, we learned some fun facts about New Zealand and the park:
- Abel Tasman never set foot on New Zealand.
- Shoreline of Abel Tasman Park is private property and can only be accessed by boat.
- Someone installed a freshwater hose in the bay that took water from a nearby stream.
- New Zealand is known for hop agriculture. The two major industries that hops are grown for are beer and cosmetics.
- Stores don’t offer plastic bags.
Lunch was provided on the tour, but I was ready for something more substantial when we got back. We met mom at Miracle Chinese for a debrief of our days.
“Tour Guide”
After a full day before, we had a leisure morning with breakfast. Today, we would be taking a beer and wine tour with a local guide. At 10:00 am, Rodney picked us up in a van and took us to our first stop: Moutere Oldest Post Office Shop. There we bought a pastry, turmeric chai and local honey chai. We then stopped at Hop Federation on the way to lunch at Toad Hall. Our last stop was at Rimu Wines where we learned that worldwise rose sales have increased by 70% in the last couple of years.
We had a good time driving around, but it was definitely not what we expected. What we expected was a tour of a winery, but no one knew to tell us that vineyards are closed this time of year… Instead we had a wine tasting at a bar. Not what we signed up for, but c’est la vie. Now we know to be more vigilant with our questions and our expectations. This was the one thing on our trip that we ended up being disappointed about.
April 2-3, 2019: Two Days in Hororata