Today was quite cloudy and windy. We were secretly happy because that made yesterday even more amazing. We headed down to the Farmer's Market to see what we could find for breakfast. There was so much to choose from! But we settled on a veggie omelette and a fruit crepe. We sat and listened to old Elvis and Frank Sinatra tunes being performed by a small band.
We bought several scrumptious pastries, then met with Casey who was bringing a bunch of shells to the beach. He earns a living diving for scallops and other things that he can sell. Apparently the law is that it can only be free-diving, no air tanks. He can hold his breath for 4 minutes and easily dive down 40 feet. He had a box of shells he had shucked the critters out of, and it was starting to stink up his car.
We followed him to the beach. He promptly drove out onto the sand with his truck, but as we passed a warning sign, I asked Regan if it was such a good idea with his parents' Pugeot. He looked at me blankly at first, then suddenly realized what I was talking about. But it was almost too late. We were stuck... but he managed to rock the car enough for it to break free and reverse back to solid ground.
His brother gave us a few of the prettier shells before tossing the rest back into the sea.
Maybe we should listen?
Our tire tracks... narrowly escaping the soft sand! Crash runs to greet us.
Ozzie is ever hopeful that there might be something for him.
Crash and Ozzie, trying to be helpful
Our cleaned Paua shells, a type of abalone.
Kelly (Casey's wife) later shared a story of how he had once used one of these shells as a soap dish without properly deodorizing it first! She said it took several showers to wash off the smell from taking the first shower with "tainted" soap!
It was just a short trip down to Monkey Bay... although to the best of my knowledge, there have never been monkeys on this island. This is the location of the Rarangi caves, which were formed by the waves when the sea reached further inland. Archeological findings show people have been using this area for around 900 years.
A narrow little path took us up along the cliffside, then down onto a gravelly beach. A man stood fishing on the water's edge. We admired the shallow caves, appreciated the constant hum of the numerous cicadas in the dense foliage on the cliff tops, and started to walk toward the water. Suddenly Regan points out a seal lying on a rocky cliff ledge just in front of us. I'm convinced it's dead, but he says he saw it move. And sure enough, it moved just enough to keep an eye on us, but it still looked like it had had a rather rough day!
From the top of the path, looking back at the beach we had just been standing on.
Looking forward, into the small cove
On the beach
The larger of the caves
The rocks displayed a wide range of color...
... and patterns.
Lichen
This cicada was a long way down from where he should be!
Having a tough day
The path back
On the drive home, we decided to stop at a couple wineries... first Saint Clair, then Cloudy Bay. There they had sparkling wine as well as dessert wines. I ended up buying us a Late Harvest Riesling for later.
It was then imperative that we get a bit of food, so we stopped in a small cafe and had some pizza (good for soaking up all the wine!). When we got back to the house, I took a nap. It's been stressful dealing with the problems back home; a friend is in the hospital. So, I have decided to change my plans and head back to Wellington (near the airport) for a bit instead of continuing on to Nelson.
For dinner, we went back over to Casey's. They were having scallops, but Regan made me a wonderful vegetarian meal of kumara pancakes. Kumara is a root vegetable like taro or yam.
FERRY (Day 15)
Again it was cloudy out. We walked to the store and got a few groceries for breakfast and lunch.
Milk is "trim" or sometimes "slim." Cheese can be "tasty" or "mild."
Mmmmm.... omelette with the works!
Kelly picked us up to take us to the ferry in Picton. When we got there, it was announced the ferry was running over an hour late. But that's ok, because the ferry before that was running late too and hadn't left yet. So we checked in our bags and boarded the early ferry... which ended up leaving the same time that our regular ferry would have.
By the time the boat departed, the clouds had burned off and it was beautiful weather. As we left the Marlborough Sounds, I could see the hike I had done a couple days before.
Boarding the late "early" ferry
A small seaplane lands in the Picton harbor
Shelly Beach and the start of my trail
Bob's Bay
The tip of the Snout Track
Looking back at the peninsula
Interesting water patterns
Farewell South Island...
... hello North Island
A map of the trip
We then caught a couple busses back home.
Back in Wellington
Dinner consisted of bread, some nice blue cheese and a beer on the back deck.
And apparently a cheese and pickle sandwich!
return • continue
