Motueka

We woke to a very wet morning. Checked out the news online and it appeared that there was flooding in Westland and people had been evacuated from Frannz Josef. That is where we were heading so very pleased that we were not a few days earlier.

It has been a while since I've driven in this area, in fact it was before the wine industry took off so I was amazed at the number of vineyards. Lots of recognisable wineries so I was pleased we didn't have Ainsley with us or we'd have been stopping every 5 minutes.

The area was beautiful after the big rain during the night ... Very misty with several rainbows. However all of the rivers were very high and fast and very very muddy. There were many places with a lot of flooding and debris over the road and we realised how lucky we had been in Picton to escape the worst of it.

We had stopped in Nelson to go to the beach but it was unswimmable so carried on to Mapua where the river reminded Tarun of the Ganges.

By the time we arrived in Motueka it was like a summer day. We went to book into our confirmed accommodation only to find that in a computer changeover our booking had been lost. Fortunately the woman was very helpful and sorted us out with an alternative while I did some laundry and Tarun went on a bike ride. His intention was to ride part of the National Cycle Trail but it was also closed by flooding so he just meandered around the town. 

Given the beautiful weather  Kaiteriteri Beach was calling. A little rougher than he'd previously experienced ( we'd call it calm) but he seemed to enjoy it. I think he may be getting used to our surf!