Nelson visit

Hello,

Well just a quick update for goings on over the last few weeks.

Si and I have just got back from a trip to Nelson (top of SI) where we went to look at a boat that Si is interested (note to mothers - looks like we will have a boat before a house).

It's the first time that we have managed to get a weekend away in ages, unfortunately work commitments and some more personal training courses for me has stopped us getting away as much as we wanted so we decided that last weekend was either going to be a skiing trip or up north to look at a boat.

So a boat is for sale in Nelson that Si wanted to look at. Car loaded up last Friday, sleet/hail/snow forecast on the trip over Lewis Path, for a 400km, 5-6 hour drive through NI. Much of it in darkness, driving around swerving roads splitting the journey between us, until finally at about 2130 we arrived in a nice little, quaint backpackers for the two nights stay.

We quickly dropped of our bags, then went through a quick bimble through the town centre. Usual Kiwi style, with a hint of bars, boisterous and a hippy vibe to it. Found a bar with leather settee's and a warm fire, so both sat there with a glass of Pinot Noir and saying how much we like Nelson!

Saturday, with an early start, we hit the road to drive a hour NW, to a place called Marahau. It is the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and has affectionately been labeled the Abel tasman Village. Marahau is the Maori name given to the village and translates to "Windy Garden" in English. The Bay is known as Sandy Bay and is quite aptly named being the longest golden sand beach in the region.

After looking at the boat, a Gazelle 5 birth one, which needs a bit of work on the trailor, Si was left to dwell on whether to put an offer on for it. We then drove around some of the little bays before hitting back to Nelson for an afternoon of chilling out and debating where to go for dinner that night.

Nice restaurant that night for some local seafood, few glasses of red wine and a chilled out night.

Sunday we started the slow drive back, first taking a brisk walk on the bech that morning, hard to think that it is the equivalent of January here, with crisp, clear sunny days in the Nelson area.
6 hours later, back to Burnham, house was not as cold as expected, cat's did not seemed to have missed us one little bit.

All in all a great weekend, made us appreciate NZ a little bit more with the natural scenery as it has been ages since we had managed to get out and about from Christchurch.

Week ahead, I, Tracey, am off to a NZ Police recruitment evening to see what they have to offer for a career options. I'm not to sure if Personal Training is for me, I nearly quit last week as had enough with all the crap that comes with awkward clients, but my manager has persuaded me to stay for a little bit longer a give it the full 6 months to see if the business can work.

The good side of it, is that is has meant that I have actually made some more friends through clients, to the end that one of the guy's I train is a qualified Ski Instructor from years ago, with Si and I going ski-ing this weekend with them, at last I can learn to ski!

I'll sign off as wood man is here to delivery our next batch of central heating.....

I'm jealous of the heatwave back in the UK!

love Tracey