I love our little caravan!
We just spent 3 nights, 4 days on the far tip of the Queen Charlotte track at a private reserve. The owner there, Ron, used to be a sheep farmer, then made the decision to take off the sheep, and let the native bush grow back. He opened up a lodge for people like Marc and I, and sells his carbon credits as offsets for businesses who want to claim to be carbon neutral. Very interesting fellow.
Marc and I got an 1.5 hour long boat ride to the lodge in the midst of heavy wind and rain. Luckily days 2, 3 and 4 were filled with bright sunshiny skies to offset the gale force winds. We spent our time hiking to old gold mining sites, visited a bay filled with green lipped mussels, hiked up to a lighthouse at the very tip of the peninsula of land. We had to walk on a section of track just meters across, with drops down to the ocean below. I wonder how long it will take for nature to cut that particular piece of land off from the rest and form yet another island in the area.
Marc and I were the only guests at the lodge during our stay so got to enjoy lots of chats with Ron and his WWOOFer Vero, a French girl who was volunteering for a month. Very fun.
We grabbed the boat back to Picton and out "home". So nice to come back to all of your things in one place as you left them, with no need to find a hotel room. I think that we're kind of hooked on this style of travel. There is no going back.
Today Marc and I headed off to the incredible aviation museum in Blenheim. A warehouse filled with restored and reproduced WW1 planes, tons of information, and life sized dioramas made up by Weta Workshops in NZ. They so lots of special effects and props for movies, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This was no grade school diorama project. We spent FOUR HOURS in the museum. Really it was amazing.
A stop off to pick a kilo of raspberries on the way home, and to check out some more food production places, then back home, to our caravan.
Tomorrow....mountain biking!
Keep warm!
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