Golden Bay

So I've been a little busy, and slacking a bit on my posts, but I will make this one very informative.  I'll start with this past weekend.  Friday night we headed up to Takaka and found a campsite before sunset.  It was a small campsite, but offered great amenities.  While setting up tent we were approached by a man our age offering us some beers.  It was very kind of him, but because beer is terribly expensive in New Zealand we took a walk into the small town and picked up some beer of our own.  Joe was travelling alone through New Zealand before he was flying off to Spain.  His father was a Kiwi and his mother was a Brit and he spent a couple of years also in L.A.  He was able to offer us a lot of perspective on our transition into New Zealand and the differences between the three ways of life.  We spent a few hours drinking/talking, but retired to bed somewhat early because we had booked a horse riding adventure in the morning!!

We got very lucky to have booked a horse trek in Cape Farewell on the Farewell Spit on a beautiful day.  If you don't know what the Farewell Spit is, its basically, uhhh, a landform, and is long, thin, and growing.  Farewell Spit Image  It is also supposed to have over 1000 bird species in its very small land area.  Our horse trek was supposed to be for beginners, but it was actually somewhat challenging as we galloped up and walked down hills.  It was very enjoyable to cross some streams and ride on the beach though.  We went with a group of about 10 people, and they were all great company. We had booked 1.5 hours for $65, which was a great deal for such a beautiful location, but the trip ended up being 2.5 hours for the same price.  It was a great experience, only intensified by the satisfaction in Jeff's face when he first got on Scooby.  The night before he looked at me and asked "do you think the horse will feel me?"  (or something of the sort) , referring to a spiritual connection he may experience with this large mammal.  I tried to be optimistic saying that they would be best friends after the ride, but I began to worry he would be let down as he talked about sharing his snacks with his new best horsey friend during the hour ride there.  This was not the case at all.  Jeff and Scooby were like brothers.  Scooby kept trying to eat and Jeff would let him because he was a push over, and Scooby would only run if Jeff really kicked and begged.  They were so cute together.  (As I am writing this Jeff begin to read and says "yeah he was like a big brother") hehe

The ride was a huge success, but it was exhausting so we headed back through to Takaka and then a bit north the a DOC campsite on Totaranui Beach in Abel Tasman National Park.  we spent the rest of the day running into the water really fast, running out really fast, playing frisbee, and reading.  We decided we would wake up to see the sunrise because it would rise right over the beach.  While setting up tent we were approached by an older Brit couple who offered to share their fire (neither Jeff nor I brought matches or a lighter for a weekend of camping).  We obliged and ended up talking to them for over an hour.  They were travelling just as we were, but were not working, and their vehicle was a bit nicer.  They had just completed a 4 month bike tour of Europe, which Jeff and I quickly decided would be our next trip (don't worry mom we'll need a few years to save up for that one).  They were fascinating people, but we had to get to bed to avoid the bugs and get some sleep.

I was awoken by Jeff at 5:45 that the alarm went off, and I could tell he was somewhat hesitant to get out of the tent, but we unzipped the door and saw the most beautiful firey red color flooding the sky.  I don't think I've ever run faster before 6am in my life.  Throwing on shoes and grabbing the camera, Jeff and I ran to the beach (approx 150m away) to photograph and watch in awe as the sun rose over distant mountain of the Marlborough Sounds (you couldn't even see these mountains the day before...See Flickr pictures)

It was still quite chilly so we retreated back to the tent for a couple more hours of sleep.  We had a hike to a waterfall planned that day so we needed our beauty rest.  At around 9 we woke up again and headed to Wainui Falls in the Abel Tasman.  It was a pretty easy hike, about 40 minutes each way, and absolutely beautiful.  I bought some Santa hats on Friday so we could work on getting a good Christmas pic, and this is one location for our prototype.

After the hike we took the 3 hour, very windy (full of turns) ride home.  It was so nice to take a hot shower, eat hot, tasty food, and get a warm night's sleep.

At 8am on Monday I started my new job at the Nelson City Council Cafe.  It is just me and an older lady named Loraine.  She reminds me a lot of my grandmom, which makes me sad sometimes, but she has been teaching me a lot about baking/cooking.  It is a wonderful job where I spend 6 hours preparing sandwiches and dessert dishes, and we take a tea break every morning, and a long lunch in the afternoon.  She feeds me muffins and delicious lunch dishes...yumm.  It is probably the best job ever.  At lunch we sit and talk with a small group of employees who are all about my parents age.  They all interrogate me about being young in the USA and talk about life in Nelson.  I enjoy hearing their perspective of America and about the differences in culture.  They also have give great advice about places to see in Nelson.  

So I have a bunch of new bird pictures/identification, but I will do a separate blog entry on that tomorrow mostly because I am exhausted.  Until then, Cheers!  Oh and Happy Turkey Day!  I am super jealous of all of you Americans scarfing turkey and pumpkin pie on Thursday.  

ps. check out more awesome pictures from the weekend by clicking on the Flickr link on the right!