Boulder Bank & the Centre of New Zealand

Monday 13 January

A day of adventuring rounded off with Christmas celebrations by special request!

I took an early morning stroll along Tahunanui Beach - glorious - while Louis went for an ocean swim. The light at this time of day is simply magical - casting long shadows but also bathing the beachscape in a soft glow. The beauty of Tahunanui was enhanced by stunning cloudscapes above, particularly over the estuary side.

I was fortunate to see quite a few black oyster catchers digging for breakfast on one of the sandbanks left by the receding tides, and looking down into the crystal clear waters by my feet, I spotted a tiny flounder flitting around - can't have been more than a few cms long! See if you can find it in the last picture of this gallery below.

Then Amy & Caroline came over and we watched the dogs playing on the sandy peninsula created by a super high tide. Maisy belonged to the guy with the bike on our side of the water, but she thought the dog walker group looked far more fun so jumped into the swollen waters, swam across and joined them for a great playtime!!!

After making a quick picnic (wraps as usual) we set out for Nelson’s Boulder Bank (inspiration for Nick Goldschmidt’s Sauvignon Blanc). The Boulder Bank stretches over 13km long from Mackay Bluff in the East to the Cut in Nelson Harbour - we could see the Cut end from the Boat Shed balcony when we had scones there with the Fernandi the previous week. It is a very unusual geological feature and experts are still unsure exactly how it happened and where the rocks come from.

It was a wobbly old walk on the rocky bank and we only covered about 1km before turning back to avoid the rain which was threatening to hit us from inland. But it was heaps of fun - Louis & Amy had several sword fights with the driftwood, Amy set us a task to find the best boulder (pretty sure she judged hers to be the best 😉 ), she and I played baseball with pine cones, Linus and I did Jake the Peg impressions and Louis and Amy managed to get themselves into my panoramic shot three times which was pretty epic! Feeling a bit windswept and hungry we made our way back to the car with strains of Travis, Driftwood wafting through our brains... it's quite an earworm!

Heading back into town we had a wee picnic at Botanic Sports Field (scene of the first rugby game on NZ shores - see blog pos for 21 December) and then while Amy took a nap in the Pajero, Louis, Linus and I tackled the slightly longer than anticipated climb to the Centre of New Zealand monument atop Mt Botanic (147m high). The "Centre of New Zealand" is the site of the central survey point used for geodetic surveys in the 1870’s and the monument was erected in 1968. Movement of the tectonic plates over the past 150 years means the pinpoint being commemorated is no longer a truly accurate representation - but we were happy to rest there and enjoy the panoramic views of Nelson before heading back down to ground level.

Back at the camp we cooked roast lamb & veggies in the kitchen by Amy’s cabin and played cards then had a rather impromptu Christmas dinner including leftover crackers from Ellen! Such fun!