Lazy days in Nelson and the Great Taste Trail to Motueka

Part one: Nelson

Nelson was such a good time and we ended up staying much longer than we intended. The weather was great and the vibes were on point.

On the first night we were both absolutely wrecked and we were both quite keen to stay in a hostel and sleep in a proper bed. From the kebab shop, our first destination once we got into Nelson, we got on our phones and tried to find somewhere to stay. But to our dismay, all of the hostels and hotels in Nelson were fully booked out. I’d spent some time in Nelson before so I had a rough idea of where we could camp - Grampians reserve. It’s a big reserve on a hill right near the centre of Nelson. 

We were both holding on by just a thread, although mine was slightly thicker than Julian’s. Julian was a bit worried that we would get reprimanded for wild camping but I reassured him that we would be fine. I lead the way, and we accidentally ended up in this eco village where there were a bunch of people chilling out in a spa pool. I asked them how we could get into the reserve and they gave me some directions.

After cycling up one last steep hill, we got to the reserve. I put my finger to my lips to indicate to be quiet as there were people living nearby and I didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. I opened the gate and went through, and then when I thought Julian had it, it flung right open and smashed loudly against the fence. Jesus fucking Christ! 😂

Julian was at a point where he just wanted to sleep in his sleeping bag on the ground but the weather forecast said it was going to rain and I was thinking about how miserable it would be to wake up to getting rained on and convinced him that it would be better if we just set up a tent.

Ok tent story time: before we left Julian and I both found tents on Facebook marketplace. I got a 1 man tent for $80 and Julian *had* a 2 man tent that he also got for the low low price of $20. The caveat was that it was missing a pole. So before we left Wellington, Julian spent hours in the garage trying to make a replacement tent pole. It was hilarious when we were in this exhausted state and he finally went to set it up that one of the poles was way too long and it couldn’t be set up properly. Subsequently the following day Julian left it somewhere accidentally and someone took his cursed tent. Was it destiny or fate?

With some luck, a few days later he found a reasonably priced replacement on marketplace. But the day we lost the tent, we still couldn't get spot in a hostel, and it was raining, so we both ended up quite snug in my one man tent down by the beach. The next day we finally managed to get a room in a hostel (Tasman Bay Backpackers - nice place, would give 5 stars) which was really nice after a few nights of roughing it.

It turned out that Julian had some (loose) connections in Nelson. We were enjoying Nelson and wanted to stay a bit longer so he called up the sister of someone he used to work with in Wellington and we ended up staying with her (Lekha) and her partner Matt in their waterfront apartment for about a week which was amazing. It was really nice to have somewhere to temporarily call home and the weather in Nelson was beautiful every day. Over the week we shared a few delicious meals with Lekha and Matt and also ran Nelson's first 5k 'Park Run'. Just before we left I found out that Matt is really good friends with my second cousin Hector which was crazy! NZ is a small place.

A few days into our stay in Nelson I met the wonderful Becca and we ended up spending a lot of time together and had a lot of fun. We had been talking on tinder when I was in Wellington a few months ago and when we finally met it was on! On Saturday Becca's friend Becky was throwing a party so Julian and I decided to stay for that. The theme of the party was Wakanda, and everyone was encouraged to dress up in African style - officially sancationed by Becky and Becca who are both from Zimbabwe. Becca robed me in a majestic sparkling headpiece to match what she was wearing. I was her king and she was my queen. The party was awesome and it was funny to suddenly be in this completely different circle of people. Julian and I even met someone who offered us a place to stay in Greymouth. We stayed up all night and into the next day to help pack down the party. Then somehow we ended up staying until Wednesday, spending most of the days chilling in the sun and smoking weed with everyone on the deck. We were part of the tribe.

Riding Day 2: Nelson to Mot:

On Wednesday, after Becca cooked us a delicious lunch, we finally got on the road again. Destination: Motueka. We took a really nice trail between Nelson and Motueka called the Good Taste trail. It was all off road from Nelson until rabbit island, and then after that point it was mostly gravel paths on the side of country roads, but that's all you really need for a chill and enjoyable ride! So much nicer than riding on the side of the highway. We had to be at Rabbit Island by 5.10pm in order to catch the last ferry to Mapua (a tiny bike ferry that just takes you 200m across an inlet) and we got there with about 15 minutes to spare. There were a few other people waiting for the ferry but they were a bit disagreeable and snooty. The lady operating the ferry shunned us for being unemployed. Oh well. Haters gonna hate. I would be mad too if I had to drive a stupid boat back and forward all day every day. Nevertheless our collective spirit was not diminished and after a short smoko break we were back on track.

At one point I went a bit off track onto this steep clay bit which reminded me of a ramp at a BMX park. Julian followed me but he slipped into a rut and came off his bike. Luckily he wasn't injured but the front wheel of his bike was definitely quite bent. We got back on our bikes and after a while it become apparent that his rear tyre was also leaking air. After a few stops to keep pumping up the leaking tyre, we eventually made it to Motueka as the sun was setting. We got some food in town then we set up a camp by the river. 

The next day we were meant to crack the Takaka Hill but it was looking like it would take at least a day to get Julian's bike road worthy again. Once we get over the hill to Takaka we're planning to stay a night at uncle Tim's then do the Heaphy track (an off road bush track) from Collingwood to Karamea on the West Coast.