Christmas in Motueka
(23rd - 27th December)
After Pelorous Bridge, we headed to Motueka. This is a small town more towards the west, still at the top of the South Island. North West, if you will. We had splashed out as it was Christmas (and we were led to believe they were fully booked for sites, which they actually weren't). We were going to get out of the camper and into a proper room with a proper bed and even a little kitchen - this pleased me greatly.
It was amazing! We had started to get quite ratty with the van, and consequently with each other. So this was a nice break. The only thing our room lacked was a bathroom, but that wasn't a long walk.
Having been cooped up in the van, we were actually very lazy for our first few days here and just made the most of having some space to relax in (including a mini sofa!). We did some shopping for Christmas (where I found some more ROBINSON'S SPECIAL R APPLE & BLACKCURRANT!) and then relaxed lots.
On Christmas day, we exchanged stockings from Father Christmas. I received an abundant supply of Chocolate & biscuits, whilst Chris received a beer, beef jerky and some crisps (and also some chocolate). We opened the Christmas card from my parents, which had fared quite well in Chris' backpack this whole time, and then we did some more relaxing. It's a tough life this being unemployed, but someone's gotta do it!
That evening, we'd finally felt that perhaps we should go outside of the campground, so we headed out to look for a sunset. Motueka is described in the Lonely Planet as being quite unremarkable. Although it's a coastal town, and we loved our campsite, I would probably agree for once with their description. The beach wasn't amazing, so our search for a sunset soon turned into a general explore, which took us up into a mountain range slightly unexpectedly, and then along a short walk to a scenic lookout over Motueka and the surrounding towns. By this time it was pretty much dark and all we could see were lights and the cool outline of some rocks. They looked so strange that we decided we would come back the next day when there was some light to see by.
It was slightly scary coming back down the mountain range in the dark, but what with it being Christmas & all, there weren't a lot of other people on the roads so it was all good.
Ooh, nearly forgot to mention our amazing Christmas Dinner. Chris and I made our own (yes, from scratch!) Beef Olives. When I say, from scratch, we did buy just-add-water stuffing, but everything else was made by our own fair hand and I was very impressed with our efforts. Especially when the mother of a family complemented us - they were just having ravioli for their Christmas lunch. We made an effort and it paid off, hooray for us!
Before we said goodbye to Motueka we took a day trip back up the mountains, then on to Kaiteriteri which is another seaside town - obviously much more popular in the summer months. There is a sandy beach here (think of Highcliff's quality of sand, but without the cliffs), but to be honest it didn't seem that appealing. We took a short walk along it, and then headed to another seaside area in the Abel Tasman reserve before heading back to the campsite and having ourselves a soak in their 'spa' (basically a jacuzzi), which was a very nice end to a very nice & chilled Christmas.
Hope you all had lovely Christmases - seems so long ago now!
After Pelorous Bridge, we headed to Motueka. This is a small town more towards the west, still at the top of the South Island. North West, if you will. We had splashed out as it was Christmas (and we were led to believe they were fully booked for sites, which they actually weren't). We were going to get out of the camper and into a proper room with a proper bed and even a little kitchen - this pleased me greatly.
It was amazing! We had started to get quite ratty with the van, and consequently with each other. So this was a nice break. The only thing our room lacked was a bathroom, but that wasn't a long walk.
Having been cooped up in the van, we were actually very lazy for our first few days here and just made the most of having some space to relax in (including a mini sofa!). We did some shopping for Christmas (where I found some more ROBINSON'S SPECIAL R APPLE & BLACKCURRANT!) and then relaxed lots.
On Christmas day, we exchanged stockings from Father Christmas. I received an abundant supply of Chocolate & biscuits, whilst Chris received a beer, beef jerky and some crisps (and also some chocolate). We opened the Christmas card from my parents, which had fared quite well in Chris' backpack this whole time, and then we did some more relaxing. It's a tough life this being unemployed, but someone's gotta do it!
That evening, we'd finally felt that perhaps we should go outside of the campground, so we headed out to look for a sunset. Motueka is described in the Lonely Planet as being quite unremarkable. Although it's a coastal town, and we loved our campsite, I would probably agree for once with their description. The beach wasn't amazing, so our search for a sunset soon turned into a general explore, which took us up into a mountain range slightly unexpectedly, and then along a short walk to a scenic lookout over Motueka and the surrounding towns. By this time it was pretty much dark and all we could see were lights and the cool outline of some rocks. They looked so strange that we decided we would come back the next day when there was some light to see by.
It was slightly scary coming back down the mountain range in the dark, but what with it being Christmas & all, there weren't a lot of other people on the roads so it was all good.
Ooh, nearly forgot to mention our amazing Christmas Dinner. Chris and I made our own (yes, from scratch!) Beef Olives. When I say, from scratch, we did buy just-add-water stuffing, but everything else was made by our own fair hand and I was very impressed with our efforts. Especially when the mother of a family complemented us - they were just having ravioli for their Christmas lunch. We made an effort and it paid off, hooray for us!
Before we said goodbye to Motueka we took a day trip back up the mountains, then on to Kaiteriteri which is another seaside town - obviously much more popular in the summer months. There is a sandy beach here (think of Highcliff's quality of sand, but without the cliffs), but to be honest it didn't seem that appealing. We took a short walk along it, and then headed to another seaside area in the Abel Tasman reserve before heading back to the campsite and having ourselves a soak in their 'spa' (basically a jacuzzi), which was a very nice end to a very nice & chilled Christmas.
Hope you all had lovely Christmases - seems so long ago now!
posted by wobblepop at 2:40 am
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