Tag 39 - Beach, Sun & Real Fruit Icecream

01/22/2015

Once again, I wake up with an alarm to have the room cleared by 10:00 am. The sky has dark clouds with the sun shining behind them. So I apply sunscreen and see how it develops. Breakfast on the balcony and with the last stroke of the bell, I leave the Avalon Motel with its overpriced rates to stay tonight in a backpacker in Nelson, so that my budget is back on track.

First, I take a little walk through Motueka, which is ultimately interchangeable with other places. One street with all the shops you need, two large supermarkets. I'm actually looking for a mailbox, which is really rare in New Zealand when you're in a smaller town. In Picton, I had to walk half a kilometer to find one where I could drop off airmail post. There was only one mailbox of this kind in the whole town. In Motueka, I find a post shop with a mailbox in front of the door on the main street. This is a similar system to Germany with the McPaper stores. Here, too, you can get all sorts of things related to paper and stationery. In addition, the post office is also represented here. Afterwards, I look for a Vodafone store to find out how the distribution of my prepaid card recharge works. It doesn't. I still have 600 MB of data volume, 4 minutes of talk time, and 193 free SMS, and a few days ago I topped up with 20 dollars (which was the minimum). These 20 dollars are used up wherever I run out first. If I talk for more than 4 minutes, 49 cents per minute will be deducted from the 20 dollar balance, the same goes for data volume per MB.

Motueka

With this knowledge, I now leave Mutueka and head north towards Kaiteriteri. I really liked the beach yesterday, and there are also toilets and restaurants there, so I can maybe buy something to eat before I drive to Nelson later.

The clouds are rather threatening, so the beach doesn't work out for now and I continue on Highway 6 towards Collingwood. The route is extremely curvy, and although I actually wanted to go all the way to Pohara at the top of the Golden Bay, I only drive to Takaka Hill because it takes too much time to drive these curves. It's already half past 11 when I turn around behind the junction to Takaka Hill Walkway and drive back. At Hawkes Lookout, you have a nice view of the bay of Marahau or Riwaka. I can't tell exactly. Otherwise, the deep forests of the surrounding mountains are a beautiful view.

It's almost half past twelve when I sink into the warm sand at Kaiteriteri Beach and take out my book. Except for a short walk through the bay, I spend the afternoon in the sun on the sand. It would have been nice to have my big beach towel now, but I used it in Te Anau to remove the wine stain from the hotel carpet and left it there. So I lie directly on the sand, which is not a problem either.

I find Real Fruit Ice Cream on the other side of the street at a small snack stand. Delicious! Frozen strawberries crushed in tasty vanilla ice cream - simply ingenious, this New Zealand ice cream.

Shortly after half past four, I head to Nelson. It's only about 50km and the road runs along the water or through the flatlands behind. Soon I see endless vineyards, but also a lot of fruit trees. The road is pleasantly straight and I arrive at my backpacker shortly after half past five. What a pleasant surprise! The building is clearly a former hotel and has a small courtyard with picnic tables around which the few dormitory rooms are located. Each of these dormitory rooms has its own bathroom from the days when this was a hotel. The kitchen is currently very busy because everyone is preparing their dinner.

Nelson / Backpacker

Since today is a belated Christmas party for the hotel staff, neither the bar nor the restaurant is open tonight. I quickly order a beer before the whole crew hands the hotel over to the guests at 6:30 pm.

My last roll with the last cheese, two carrots, and a few cookies are my dinner because everything has to be used up now. The day after tomorrow, I have to return the car and don't want to carry any groceries to the ferry.

Around 8:00 pm, I get back in the car to search for beautiful old Victorian wooden houses. But what is even more amazing is a breathtaking sunset over the bay. I drive up a steep road to an extremely upscale residential area to get a view from above, but most of the beautiful spots are built with houses that take your breath away. There are no people to be seen here. I wonder if these huge villas are all just vacation homes? My goodness!

In addition, there is a breathtaking sunset with a fiery red sky.

It's half past nine when I'm back in my backpacker. I took a single room with a private bathroom, which costs 82 dollars. For that, I get a cozy room with a wide bed, a chair, and a shower room. No frills, but free high-quality Wi-Fi.

Tomorrow, from 8:00 to 9:00, there will even be breakfast, and it's included. So set the alarm!

Daily Kilometers: 146km