A Second Day at Elaine Bay

Everyone seems to love Elaine Bay. In answer to your questions, yes we’re off grid here, our solar panels on the roof happily collecting power from the sun to charge the batteries. Art’s inverter charges our laptops and phones. We're mostly using propane, which powers the oven, range, and fridge.

There's a new guy fishing the pier this morning. He and his partner are staying at one of the rental baches here.

 

 

 

You asked how much it cost to stay here. Like many of the best places we've parked in NZ, the charge seems inversely proportionate to the view. Here at the DOC campsite it’s NZ $8 per person per night or about US $10.60 for both of us.

 Like happy fishers everywhere: big smiles for a blue cod

After a bowl of vegetables and scrambled eggs, we decided to walk this track, which starts over near the marina.

The pines here must have already been harvested once, as the ones lining our path for the first few miles are relatively immature. Their scent is heavenly, and I find myself saying to Art: it smells like Canada but we don't have to worry about bears.

Honestly, it was challenging to keep eyes on the trail with these vistas to our left.

Here's a map of the region, pink circle Elaine Bay. We walked the yellow dotted line south of there. W&R, the blue in the lower-right corner is the green-shelled mussel cruise you took. Tomorrow we're driving back to Okiwi Bay at about 9 o'clock to stay in a holiday park that has wifi, so I can work Monday morning.

 

 

These sounds are just magical.

Lord of the Flies?

You know I like to zoom the camera to see what can't be seen with the naked eye.

As promised, soon the evergreens fall away and native NZ bush emerges.

7.5 miles later (and, Art's fitbit reminds us, 49 stories), we are knackered! See the boat below? I wonder where it's heading...

 

A Day at Elaine Bay

A raging wind blew last night like it was the end of the world, buffeting the caravan and us inside. Then it would stop, suddenly, and I’d drift off to sleep and then--BAM—it would start again. The last thing I said to Art was “tomorrow it will be clear, still, and stunning." 

And this morning it was.

The biggest surprise at the Elaine Bay DOC site is that there’s a small community of houses directly behind us (I'll make a picture tomorrow). When I’m in a place like this that has zero commercial business I always wonder where people get cream for their coffee. Drive 10K worth of incredibly twisty roads back to tiny Okiwi Bay, where there might be cream in the camp store? Or pack everything you need in the back of your car before driving here? (Art says they drink it black.)

The community maintains this pier, where giant rays swim, though we haven't seen them yet. "Larger than the picnic table," a man called Glen described them, one black and one grey, one missing its tail.

 

Here's Glenn dumping his fish bits off the pier in hopes of luring the rays.  He told us the road to Elaine Bay was only sealed (paved) in the last ten years and that they rarely saw campers here before that. I asked him about the history of this place, since his family's had a bach here for 60 years.

He said six decades ago it was all farmland surrounding the water and that the farmer who owned it decided to sell off a small number of parcels, one of which Glenn's grandfather purchased to build the family bach. 

Glenn lives in Nelson to the west, not a far drive, and had fished this morning in preparation for a friend's 60th birthday at his place tonight. He'd caught blue cod and gurnard. (Maybe I should ask him the cream question.)

We took a walk this morning while a chicken roasted in the caravan oven, promising ourselves we'd turn around after 30 minutes.

 

Art made a new dog friend.

Though the path was stunning, we never lost the idea of that chicken.

Thermometer says 60, feels like 75 in the sun. Chicken + vegetables in coriander lemon cream.

There were naps too, and some reading. All day outside--a gift. At right in this photo is the commercial wharf. We're going to walk over that way tomorrow.

Writing this at about 5:15 pm, I looked out our front window and hurried outside to snap it. It's perfectly quiet here. Sleep well, campers.

Picton to Elaine Bay in the Marlborough Sounds

Rain yesterday thwarted our leaving-taking, but this morning was dry if overcast. Getting from Picton to our destination is, as you can see below, circuitous (click here if you can't view map).

The alternative, which takes an equal amount of time, is to drive the twisty roads of the Queen Charlotte Sound (the beautiful shoreline west of Picton) before driving 20 km of twisties to Elaine Bay. Our driver chose the route to almost-Blenheim before turning west and north. 

Nearly three hours later, we're at a DOC site with a particularly compelling view.

Channeling the Ivy League Helped a Maori Tribe Earn $1.3 Billion

Via Bloomberg...

A government settlement provided the Ngai Tahu with seed money that it used to build a successful portfolio and intergenerational wealth. 

 

 An image from Shotover Jet, one of the Ngai Tahu’s companies. Source: Ngai Tahu Tourism

In 1998 the Ngai Tahu tribe of Christchurch got a NZ$170 million payout from the government, one of the first in a series of compensation payments that have given tribal groups, or iwi, the opportunity to invest. 

Today, Ngai Tahu owns a portfolio of tourism ventures, commercial and residential properties, farms, forests, and fisheries. Its assets are valued at NZ$2 billion ($1.3 billion), the largest of any iwi, while the broader Maori economy is estimated at NZ$50 billion. 
more here

A Little Walk Before Breakfast

Kia ora, campers! This morning I stepped outside the caravan to fill my water bottle and walk to the loo and look what greeted me. Camping puts you in moments you might otherwise sleep through. 

A walk or make our first meal? We decide to walk first. But it's cold-ish this morning, about 40F (though it would near 60 by day's end), so we decide to wait for it to warm up. Then the camp host tells us it's supposed to rain, so we agree: let's just go for a little walk.

We met this horse along the way. He sauntered over and snuffled hot air into my hand. I apologized for not bringing a carrot or apple, but he was friendly nonetheless.

Ready for my portrait

Picton Dawn Chorus, an ideal name for a group that clearly relishes birdsong and sets out these traps to nail the possums, stoats, and rats that eat bird eggs.

This walk is presented on the map (and on Art's app) in several parts, and I guess we just kept going. Along the way, the misty fog was low enough to mostly obscure the sounds.

Finally, toward the end (which isn't truly the end--40 minutes more to get to the tip of the snout, as if) we can see the shape of our walk. It all felt decidedly uphill.

Here's a story about eating worms, which right now sounds tempting. I haven't brought a snack because we were just going for a little walk. (Have you ever noticed how people stranded in the wilds for days always say the same thing: I didn't bring my water bottle because I was just...).

Heard before seen: the Interislander Ferry we took two days ago, heading for Picton Harbor.

On the return, Art catches his breath (and I mine) as the sun emerges.

It's noon after a six-mile trek and, now back at the caravan, I slather this lamb roast with dijon, rosemary, and garlic and put it into a hot-hot oven. No time for the grill--some people are we know are famished.

Later, we did a massive food shop and visited this used bookstore, run by a person who clearly has surrounded himself with what he loves.

Pausing...At The Top of the South

A day of tasks: work, laundry, a little movement down a path to the marina.

On the road, there develops a deep appreciation for the tidy, spotless laundry room. Especially one with amusing wall art. We loaded up four washers today and hung the bed linens on a line to dry in the sun.

The Queen of Flat Whites is reviewing maps for the coming days.

We're preparing to camp in the sounds north and west of here. This photo was made near the DOC site at Elaine Bay, likely our next campsite. Tomorrow we'll amass provisions for the coming week (how do we eat so much food?) and depart Wednesday.

After the walk: pretty Asian green wraps with the last of the roast chicken, bleu cheese, avocado, and olives. A schmear of boysenberry jelly does these proud.