Moving on to Tapawera & making new friends

Sunday 11 January

After 5 nights at Marble Hills Retreat we’d finally run out of fresh water so we’d packed up the night before and woke early, dressed, brushed teeth with last remaining drops from the tank, made the bed then hit the road over the hill to Motueka by 7.40am.

Cool morning temperatures and popping the Pajero in 2WD meant we avoided the transmission over heating issues we experienced 5 days ago on the way in. Dropping down off the hill, with the orchards laid out below - we let out a sigh of relief!

Stopped off at Motueka NZMCA and I had a shower and hair wash as Louis filled the tanks - finally washing out 5 days of sand & salt! Yay! We had only planned to be at Marble Hills for 3 nights so had to eke out our water supplies to make it through 5 nights - certainly not enough for hair washing!!

Stocked up with food from New World, dumped our grey & black water then headed inland to Mt Arthur View POP on the Motueka River at Tapawera. Our toilet cassette had been smelling a bit rank despite recently being cleaned with some official product - this time we popped a litre of white vinegar and some water in it, trundled along, emptied it again in Tapawera and it was super clean and lovely - yay!

Gorgeous spot - big field with a book exchange, eggs for sale, about 8 others dotted around the edge and only $10 per night. Had a chat with June & Steve in their Jayco after signing in - they recommended the cycle trail back to the cafe & pub.

We hopped on bikes and followed the Tasman Great Taste trail, and their recommendation, which was lovely.

It was interesting to see that this trail, like so many others, follows the tracks of an old railway line - with cuttings, derelict stations, and further along, Spooners Tunnel, the longest decommissioned railway tunnel in NZ. We also got the giggles at the sign warning us to give way to a vehicle - we though the illustration was of a train heading left, but it was actually a truck driving right!!!

Back at Banjo, a new van had parked up near us and I immediately recognised the dog that I’d seen but not met at Marble Hills a few days prior. Popped over to say hello and got chatting with Sally & Guy amd gorgeous Skye - their English Pointer.

Dinner at Banjo - flat chook on the BBQ - then spent the evening batting away sandflies and chatting with our new neighbours. Found all manner of common ground and had a lovely time swapping stories until darkness fell. Sally was from Hampshire and had met Guy on his OE from NZ; they had lived abroad for many years (including on a boat and in the Caribbean) before settling back here; when we mentioned holidaying in France, one of their relations had a house about 30km from Cari & Stig's place at Valpres... and so it went on!

What lovely people (and dog!) 🥰