Oceania

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Crayfish & hot pools

Honda NSX Despite being on holiday, we needed to be out of the house at 0800.  Kim was helping a friend out with a pre-purchase inspection of a Honda NSX.  We had to go to Belfast to meet a mechanic who then sent his apprentice to lead us to an old chicken farm in Rangiora […]

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Catching up with friends

At Christchurch, we picked up our rental car and drove to a friend’s place for a late/light lunch.  We stopped at Copenhagen Bakery along the way to buy a few bits to bring along.  Fortunately, we didn’t buy too much because our host was well prepared with food already. After a good catch-up, we continued […]

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Cancelled airshow

We were meant to fly to Christchurch today as part of a roadtrip to Blenheim for the Omaka airshow.  But the airshow got cancelled, not so much due to Covid-19 but the uncertainty and possibility of having a lockdown.  And that’s despite New Zealand having hardly any community transmission for many months. Despite the airshow […]

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Hamilton Gardens

Kim needed to go to Hamilton to look at a car he was interested in purchasing.  I decided it would be a good opportunity to go visit Hamilton Gardens.  We would go in one car and come back separately if he does end up buying the car (which he did).   It was a 90 min […]

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A good run

Having gone to the sleep with the curtains open I woke at 0540, over an hour before my alarm.  I had planned to start driving to Nelson airport at 0800 in time for my 1125 standby flight back to Auckland. Knowing that making it to the airport for the earlier flight possibility at 1000 seemed […]

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Wharariki & Cape Farewell

Last day Today is my last day in Takaka before flying home tomorrow. I wanted to make the most of it, especially with the stunning weather.  Wharariki Beach had been highly recommended but it is only worthwhile visiting within 2h each way of the low tide time of about 1600.  That gave me a relaxing […]

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Sea-kayaking and more

Note:  All photos on this page have not been manually edited or enhanced (except for the one as indicated) because they were rather stunning already! Sea-kayaking I had put off my sea-kayaking here until the weather was good.  When I was satisfied with yesterday’s weather and the forecast had indicated that today would be good, […]

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Rocks, Falls & Springs

Note:  All photos on this page have not been manually edited or enhanced because they were rather stunning already! Labyrinth Rocks Today, the weather turned glorious and remained so for the rest of my stay at Takaka.  How lucky for me.  I started the day with some yoga in the dining room before taking my […]

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Lazy day

Above:  Wood-fired outdoor bath at my accommodation. With damp and changeable weather, I deferred my sight-seeing plans and went to the supermarket.  I got some canned tuna, tomatoes, cucumber and a fake baguette for my next few meals. Supermarket baguettes in New Zealand are just ordinary bread in a different shape.  But it was probably […]

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Missing a turn

The ATR72 flight landed in Nelson around 1045, about 10 mins ahead of schedule.  I had a rental car booked with Pegasus an off-site car rental company.  Other operators had wanted about NZD600 for five days whereas this company was the only one offering non-inflated prices for the post New Year holiday period at around […]

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