Paragliding goes OFF!!!

Tom and David had an awesome day at Bright riding the thermals to cloudbase (somewhere around 1700m AMSL). It was cold up high but the flying was such fun that Tom stayed up for 2 hours. David had a bout of airsickness and landed earlier.

Tuesday 15th March - paragliding

Tom and David did a bit of theory before taking to the skies for plenty of airtime in their paragliders. Not to be outdone, Cathy took a break from marking abstracts for the Paediatric Conference to do a tandem "sleddie" with Fred. Now she can appreciate why the boys love to fly.

Exercise to shed the extra kilos

We were up early for David to join the MDBC ride to Upper Yarra Dam. It was his first ride on over a week and hot - but it ended in pouring rain by the end of the day.



Meanwhile, Cathy did the Million Steps for SMA fun run at Jells Park. She had a long warm up as she parked in the wrong car park but still managed to finsh the 10 km run in a respectable time. More importantly she raised heaps of money for a good cause - thanks to all my sponsors.
Gardening, cleaning and packing for the next week of travels took up the rest of the day. It was good to be around home though.

Saturday 12th March

We all checked out a Kiwi garage sale then explored the Nelson market. However, we couldn't delay the inevitable farewell as we had to head back to Melbourne. We hope it won't be too long before we meet again. All the flights went smoothly and the house was happy to see us home.

Friday 11th March - Hanging around Nelson

We wandered the streets of Nelson and David was the techno guru, attempting to get the bluetooth keyboard working. In the end he admitted defeat. We tried not to eat too much before our night out at Hopgoods. It did not disappoint and we had a wonderful evening.

Thursday 10th March - back to work for some

David and Trina were up early to head back to work whilst we lazed around our beautiful sunny beach. Cathy braved the water (up to her knees) after her run along the coast track to Little Kaiteriteri. We stayed in the sun, but moved back to the cafe for morning tea. We headed back to Nelson where David treated Cathy to a relaxing lunch at the Boat Shed Cafe - delicious!

Wednesday 9th March

We packed our bags again and Cathy obediently packed up the unfinished jigsaw. Today was a more strenuous walk through the Takaka Hills walkway keeping just ahead of the clouds rolling in. This involved bushbashing through prickly gorsebush and across rocky limestone tracks avoiding cave openings "tomo".



We went back to our 9/10 view spot for lunch then down to Motueka where David and trina closed anohter wine deal. We maintained the beach theme of the holiday and stayed at Kaiteriteri.

Tuesday 8th March - Farewell or welcome?

We visited the Farewell Spit and Cape Welcome (accidentally renamed by Cathy). We headed up Pillar Point for a walk, then David and Trina did the highland goats trail to Cape Farewell. Eventually we had a late lunch at the Courthouse in Collingwood. David fell for a tall blonde (local organic beer). The girls went shopping for candles at a local shop that smelt great!



Cathy started the 1000 piece jigsaw on the coffee table and conned the boys into helping.

Monday 7th March - Pupu day

We woke to a clear crisp morning and checked out the shops in Takaka before we headed to the Pupu Hydro walkway. The track headed along beside the water race that takes water from the weir to the pipe down to the turbine below. It was an interesting walk but we wish we'd done it in the opposite direction.





Lunch was a 7/10 view in the car park prior to a walk to the Te Wharatoapupu Springs - some of the clearest freshwater springs in the southern hemisphere.
We drove on to our 10/10 accomodation at Golden Bay camp ground. It was still not enough to tempt David and Trina out of their Hiace van into the second bedroom. Dinner was a BBQ on the deck.

Sunday 6th March - Off on a road trip

We packed the car and the camper and said Goodbye to the dogs, then headed off to the Motueka market where we discovered delicious licorice and fresh fruit.
We planned to do the walk to Harwood's hole but the weather closed in so we settled for lunch with a 9/10 view at the top of the Takaka hills.



We drove through rain and sleet over the ranges into Pohara to find our cabin by the beach. We rugged up for a walk on the breakwater which gave a great view of the snow capped mountains! Had a lovely meal at the Penguin Cafe but Cathy wasn't used to Latte in a bowl - it ended up as Latte in her lap!

Saturday 5th March - Airport crawl

We set off for New Zealand with a breakfast in Qantas club. David started off our holiday in typical style - by losing something! Luckily we are travelling through Wellington on the way home and Qantas will keep the vest for him to collect.



We were greeted by Trina and the dogs at their new Manuka St home, but had to wait until David finished work before seeing him. Trina prepared a delicious roast dinner. We delivered a painting from dad that was soon hanging on the wall.