Golden Bay, NZ
Friday, February 21
Off to Golden Bay today!
We’d been advised by several locals that, although Golden Bay is incredible and not to be missed, getting there is a bit of a challenge. The two-lane highway is under construction at the moment making the 1 1/2 hour drive time slow going if not timed correctly. We figured we’d start our day on the early side to avoid some of the traffic.
As we left the town of Motueka, Andi pulled over at a roadside fruit & veggie stand. Its nearing the end of the summer growing season in New Zealand and farmer’s market shelves are full of plums, pears, blueberries, watermelon, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini and green beans. Tory and Aden love pears, so I purchased a a variety called Honey Blossom pears as well as some zucchini for dinner, and we continued on our way to Golden Bay.
The scenic drive over Takaka Hill is well known, but because of the rain and fog we could barely see in front of our RV — forget about the fabulous view! Tory and I were car sick from the twisty-turning road by the time we arrived in Takaka. Not to mention Andi’s nerves as the roadways here are very curvy and narrow.
In Takaka, Andi parked in the grocery store parking lot and then ran inside to buy a protein for dinner while the kids and I stayed in the RV to do school. It was miserable outside — pouring rain and town was packed with people. Andi returned to the RV with groceries, plus two meat pies (individual-sized pot pies that are sold at deli counters here in New Zealand) for lunch and chicken fingers & french fries for the kids. We ate lunch inside the RV before continuing on to the campground in Abel Tasman National Park.
We arrived at Totaranui Campground about an hour later, and found a spot to camp for the night. This campground is inside Abel Tasman National Park and it’s huge with over 800 sites available. Different than other campgrounds we’ve stayed at thus far, Totaranui was full of kiwi families on holiday. (Most of the campgrounds we’ve stayed at up to this point are filled with tourists in campervans.) At Totaranui, there were kids riding bikes and big screen tents people set up at their sites for entertaining outdoors. The rain had finally stopped, so once we were settled we walked down to the beach to check it out.
It’s easy to see where Golden Bay gets its name — the sandy beaches are incredible! I’ve never seen sand such a rich, golden color. The tide was going out, so I pointed out an example of sand erosion on the beach; relevant since Tory is learning about erosion in Science.
We met a kiwi couple on the beach collecting blue mussels from rocks along the water. They were super friendly and answered all our questions about how they collect the mussels and prepare them for eating. In so many places we’ve traveled around the world, I’ve seen mussels attached to rocks but never thought about harvesting them. We all learned something new that day — it was cool!
The kid complained about being eaten alive by sandflies on the beach and begged to walk back to camp. Sandflies are like tiny biting gnats. The bites itch like mosquito bites and they’re annoying like mosquitos, too! Back at camp, we sprayed ourselves with bug spray and then took a walk through camp for something to do.
I asked the local kiwis we met on the beach for the name of the brown flightless birds we kept seeing around camp — they said they’re called wekas. Weka birds are endemic to New Zealand and are about the size of chickens. They’re curious, feisty things not afraid of people.
On our walk through the campground, we came across a fellow camper with a bubble machine. It really is the little things, isn’t it? Tory and Aden were so excited to see bubbles flying through the air. They ran circles around the campground chasing and popping bubbles.
Back at our RV, Andi sliced up some local cheese and the honey blossom pears we bought earlier at the roadside stand. The kids nicknamed the pears “pearples” because they look like pears but taste crisp and sweet like apples. We gobbled them up! Pearples are delicious.
Andi and I sat outside the RV in lawn chairs and people-watched around camp while Tory and Aden sat inside the RV for some iPad/quiet time. We’ve found local kiwis to be super friendly. Several men stopped by our RV to say hello & give tips to their favorite to-do’s in Abel Tasman National Park. One man suggested taking the kids to feed the “tame eels” at the a river not far from camp. We decided we’d do that tomorrow.
Saturday, February 22
Let’s find those eels! Tory and Aden were chomping at the bit this morning to get outside & locate the “tame eels” a fellow camper told us about yesterday evening. The directions: Go down the road with the big trees, turn left at the house and follow the beaten path until you find eels in the river. We threw a few hotdogs into our pack and hit the trail.
“Is this a trick to get us to go on a hike,” Aden wanted to know. It wasn’t a trick though. Andi and I were doing our best to follow the camper’s directions to find the eels. This appeared to be a “local’s tip” because there weren’t any signs directing the way.
After walking for 20 minutes or so, we found the eels tucked behind a clearing in the bushes. At first, there were only one or two but as soon as the other eels figured out we had hot dogs … they was a cluster of them!
After we fed the eels, we walked to Totaranui Beach and let the kids play in the sand until we were all hungry for lunch. From there, we dusted the sand off our feet and hit the road for Collingwood — our next destination in Golden Bay.
