The aftershocks seem to have faded; we are in Nelson now, staying at the Quaker meetinghouse there. It's a simple old place, musty but cozy. It's hard to believe it's been only a day and a half since the quake.
Nelson is said to be the sunniest city in nz. It was raining when we got here last Friday, with lots more in the forecast. We had planned to take a bus first thing in the morning Saturday to Marahau near the Abel Tasman park. But there would be nothing to do there if it kept raining. So we changed our plans and rented a car, so we could have some flexibility.
Of course, this meant learning to drive on the other side of the road :-(
It was pretty stressful at first, but after a while I began to get the hang of it. It was actually more stressful for Suzanne as passenger than it was for me as driver. For both of us, the really hard part were some narrow twisty mountain roads.
On the way to Marahau, we stopped at a bunch of interesting spots, including Mapua, a small town whose old wharf had been redeveloped into shops and eateries. I got some very tasty locally smoked fish. We also stopped at a unique and whimsical cafe called the Jester House, featurung, among other oddities, tame eels and a giant house of cards.
We got to Marahau, after surviving the aforementioned mountain road, and checked into a very nice room complete with a small but well set up kitchen. They even did the dishes for us!
The next day was supposed to have less rain, so we decided to do our planned hike. This involved taking a water taxi to a beach about 12 km away and hiking back. The taxi ride was something of a white knuckle experience - the sea was rough and the boat went fast. But we made it intact, they dropped us on the beach, and off we went.
The hike was long but mostly interesting, with many opportunities for great views and lots of waterfalls, big and small. The trail was wide and smooth most of the way; somebody must work like dogs to keep it up. mud was a problem in some spots. It did rain once in a while, but never heavily. We were very glad when we finally saw the sign for our hotel!
We ate a simple dinner and then went to bed early, exhausted.
"Steve! Are you shaking the bed?"
"No!!??!? It's an earthquake! Go outside!"
I bolted for the door. After what seemed like minutes, the shaking stopped. We got on the internet and learned that a "severe" quake had struck about a couple hundred miles further south at 2 minutes past midnight. We also learned that bolting for the door was not the recommended action; you're supposed to drop to the floor, get under cover, and hold on to something sturdy.
We were up on a little hill, and we heard no warning sirens, so we figured that we were not at risk for a Tsunami. We went back to bed, but it took a while to get back to sleep!
The next day we drove back to Nelson. It rained most of the way. We did stop at a cafe started by a very old community, called riverside. We did a quick walk around and learned a little bit about the community.
We got to Nelson ok and returned the car (good riddance! ). We then set about figuring out our next move. The quake had messed up a lot of transportation. The original plan was to take the bus to Picton and then the ferry to Wellington. But the ferries were suspended and the bus wasn't running either.
After some web searching I managed to get tickets on a flight from Nelson to Wellington, and for a little less money than the bus and ferry.
That evening we got together with half a dozen people from the Quaker meeting, and had a very informal talk about ecovillage (and many other things).
We spent the next day in Nelson. It's a nice town, about the size of ithaca, and for once the weather cooperated. We spent a bunch of time in the Queen's Garden, with lush plantings and some very large trees from all over the world. The climate is mild, without hard freezes, so things grow fast and big. The Chinese garden, designed in cooperation with a sister city in China, was particularly nice.
We went back to the meetinghouse, had dinner (including one more aftershock) and went to bed thoroughly tired. Next stop is Wellington.
No comments:
Post a Comment