Kina Beach, Motueka

Monday 12th November

It was really good to catch up with my nephew, Mark and Tracey, and the younger children, Tiarne and Cody, on the way North from Nelson. It is just over a year since we were at their very special wedding in Rarotonga. Cody gave us a good demonstration of how well he can ride his little motorbike.

Tracey had been called in to help out at The Smokehouse down on the Mapua Wharf yesterday so we all popped down there for an early fish & chip dinner. It was voted the 2nd best fish & chip shop in the South Island and they were delicious. Beautiful cod with great batter. We were able to eat them at the Golden Bear Brewery while we enjoyed a glass of their fine beer.

The wharf area has a special vibe all of it's own with the brewery and about 6 cafes to choose from. They  often have a band playing and it's pretty busy, especially over the weekends, with day trippers out from Nelson. You can also catch the ferry from there over to Rabbit Island.
We were able to have a stone skimming contest in the calm water around the wharf - Tiarne and Cody have obviously had a lot more practice than me!

Len and I then drove onto Kina Beach Reserve where motorhomes can park for just $5 per person. It was our favourite spot to date. There were 4 or 5 old, hillbilly-like buses already there and big concrete block barbecues all ready to use with driftwood from the beach. Down the beach there was an old bath set up with     a fire that could be lit underneath and a bucket close by for filling up the bath. It was tempting but we didn't!

 Our bus was parked so close to the water we felt we could almost lean out and touch it!  Great to listen to the little waves before going to sleep.

Kina Beach - note that we have our own mailbox!

We woke to a sunny, warm morning and after a leisurely breakfast we drove about a km further down the road to the Kina Cliffs (Tasman) Golf Club which is a cliff top course with magnificent views over the bay to Nelson and to the southern snowcapped peaks. The course itself very undulating and quite tough with the sideways sloping fairways but at least we could admire the views which included 2 ponds woth lovely big waterlillies in flower!

We could have stayed there overnight but instead, after lunch and siesta, we travelled about 11 km up the coast to Motueka where we are now parked out the back of the RSA along with some of our neighbours from last night!