It was raining so we decided to drive to Nelson via Nelson Lakes (if it stopped raining, we thought we might do a short hike in the Nelson Lakes area), but unfortunately it continued to rain on and off all morning. We picked up a hitchhiker along the way, a fellow named Martin from Franfort, Germany, and gave him a ride to the hostel in Nelson Lakes. He was probably 35-40 years old and is a police officer back home, and he gave us his email address and phone number and told us to contact him if we get to the Frankfort area. We meet such nice people here.
We got to Nelson about noon. There are quite a few hostels here and we decided to try a small one about 1/4-1/2 mile from the center of town. Great pick! I think the woman who runs it, Tanea, is Maori and she is so nice, and the place is cute and very clean. Some of the smaller hostels are such nicer than the big ones.
We decided we didn't need the car tomorrow so we could drop it off today and get a one day credit (NZ$49). The fellow at the office said they normally have a 48-hour notice for a credit but we had the car long enough that he would give us the credit. Again, everyone is very nice here.
Of course returning the car meant we had to clean it out and take all our stuff (plus what we have accumulated, mostly food and stuff over the last nine days) into our room in the hostel. We wanted to go to a movie so we just put our stuff in the room which is quite small, returned the car and got to the theatre for the 1:45 PM movie. We saw The Whale Rider, a New Zealand film which was excellent. If you can get it on video at home it is well worth watching.
Shari had also booked us into an all day bone carving class for tomorrow. We will get to make some sort of jewelry (probably a pendant) and they will come pick us up and drop us off at the hostel.
After the movie we went grocry shopping for dinner tonight and food for tomorrow and for our 3 day/2night Abel Tasman trek. We start our trek on the 3rd and finish on the 5th. We also made bus reservations (Picton to Wellington) for the 6th.
4/02: Stephan, the fellow who ran the bone carving class, picked us and another couple up at our hostels about 9:20 AM. He has a workshop at his house about 20 minutes out of town and he limits his class to 6-8 people. Another couple joined the class shortly before 10 AM. What a terrific day we all had. Stephan is such a great guy and a wonderful teacher.
We all got to pick our own design to carve and then he gave us a piece of beef bone in which to carve out our design. We used a cutting saw (it has a round blade that cuts in any direction based on the pressure from your hands), drills, grinders and sand paper thoughout the day. It was amazing to see the carvings come to life at each stage of the process and how beautiful each person's finished product looked. Stephan patiently guided each of us along the way - showing us a step, then leaving us on our own to work on our pieces, but always checking and giving help when needed.
He is from Germany and was a woodworker at home. He first came to New Zealand in 1991, then returned to Germany and then emigrated to New Zealand 7 years ago. He does his own carvings and sells them in a few stores, and he sometimes builds and repairs guitars (but not as much as he did in Germany), and he teaches the bone carving classes.
At the end of the class he gave each of us a certificate with our name on it (e.g., handcrafted by Laurie) indicating what the design meant in the Maori culture. Mine was a combination wave, whale and spiral. I was the only one in the class who put a small piece of puau shell on the pendant. I basically copied the design of the pendant that Stephan wore. It is quite beautful.
Stephan also talked about carving on whale bone. People need a special permit to sell or buy whale bone (it is protected like ivory) but if you find an old whale bone on the beach (he found some that was 30-40 years old) you can keep it. Stephan won't make anything to sell with the whale bone he found because whales are sacred to the Maori. He only uses it to make special gifts (like a wedding gift) for friends and family.
After class we did some errands in town (grocery store, changed the car pick-up date in Wellington to the evening of the 8th, picked up our bus and hut tickets for our Abel Tasman hike and used the internet). We also called Leslie and made arrangements to meet her after work on Monday, 4/07, in Wellington. Unfortunately, she will be away for that weekend and doesn't know when she is getting home on Sunday evening so we can't plan to stay with her on that Sunday evening. We are taking the ferry to Wellington, and will stay with her the next Monday and Tuesday though.
4/03: We got the 8:30 bus out to Marahau for the start of the Abel Tasman Track. Shari had to make a couple of calls to change our transport back to Nelson on Saturday, so we didn't start hiking until 11:15 AM. We had no problem with a later start because it was a short day hiking over basically a flat tack. It was a lovely hike and the sun was shining most of the time, but we hiked on a shady trail up on ridges that followed the coast line. Periodically, we got beautiful views of the beaches and bays along the Tasman Sea. The water has all the gorgeous colors (various shades of blue and green) that you see in the Carribean.
We are staying in Anchorage Hut which is about 200 feet from the beach. Lovely setting. The hut sleeps 24 people in the 2 bunk rooms with 2 rows of 6 across bunks in each room. Not my favorite set-up for bunks. I'm on an end bottom bunk so it's not too bad and they do have a good size open porch with a roof in front of the hut. May I'll sleep out there if it gets too crowded in the bunk room.
There are lots of people who arrived at the beach by kayak and I'm not sure how many are staying overnight in the hut or camping at the adjacent campground. I'm sitting in my chair on the beach right now (tough life) and there are no sandflies which makes it very comfortble. I'm about to finish my notes, start reading my book, "The Smoke Jumper" by Nicolas Evans (it's good) and listen to music. Not a bad place to be at 4 PM on a Thursday. This certainly isn't like hiking at home.
