New Zealand - Tasman Day Trip

Husband spent  several days in Wellington, across on the North Island, for a health informatics conference, but I got to continue vacation. Lucky me! I love being able to wander about and take my time and meet people, not to mention sample yummy things to eat. Saturday mornings, Nelson has a farmers' market, which includes a variety of cooked on the site foods, as well as arts and crafts.

I found fruits and veggies and plants for the garden (spring bedding plants dominated), had an outstanding breakfast of fresh crepes wrapped around bacon and scrambled eggs -- all cooked at once on a flat round griddle. There were paintings, sculpture, leather work, wool yarns and knitted woolen clothing, wooden toys, and inlaid wood tea trays and kitchen utensils. Husband found the perfect Kiwi hat at a stall with hundreds of caps and chapeaux. AND, I found a lady cooking real Mexican recipes out of a tiny wagon in the middle of the market. She's married to a Kiwi and got bored living out on a vineyard, so he set her up in the wagon and all of us were happy!

When husband returned from the conference (he flew over, and even got to see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's airplane in the Wellington Airport) some of our new friends wanted to take us on a little tour of the area.  Everyone, including the tourist bureau, thought we should at least see some of the Tasman Reserve, which is this huge National Park area just over the hill to the west of Nelson.

They took us out to the Riwaka Resurgence:

I was feeling pretty tired by the time we got there, because we had already had a couple miles of walk around town, plus another hour or two of driving tour, but Althea assured me that it really wasn't much of a walk to the Crystal Pool and the Resurgence...

It was about half a mile of this -- beautiful, but a bit taxing for those of us who do not run up to the Center of New Zealand every morning. (See last post)

A resurgence is the spot where an underground river comes back to the surface. Riwaka River flows for some of it's length deep in limestone caves and comes out at the Crystal Pool, clear and icy cold.

 Some of the local wildlife got into this shot of the cave opening...

As the water flows down towards the sea, it warms up, but before it does, there are several pools that look very much like something out of an exotic National Geographic Magazine spread.

The water really is this color, and absolutely clear. There isn't even any moss or algae in it for a mile or so. And the walk is literally hacked from the side of the jungle choked gorge. I kept thinking I would see Tarzan any minute, but over all it was incredibly serene. It is a holy spot for Maoris, and I can see why.

On the way down, near the car park, is a lone picnic table on a grassy spot next to the water, and this was the view out towards the pasture and mountains.  See the native brush slopes on the right? And the conifers on the left? A perfect day for a picnic, or just resting the feet sitting at the table and wondering what that bird was which we could hear but not see... I kept asking, "What's that plant? What bird is singing?" until I think everyone was exasperated with me.

Alas, all good things do come to an end, and so we left New Zealand after 17 days of fun and wonder. It wasn't long enough.