A little R & R

Going to Nelson was such a nice treat for a tired backpacker! Rachel picked me up at the airport and we headed off to their beautiful home. That night we had a incredible dinner with the Lukies and some of the Bennett's friends. Rachel made me a yummy pavlova for my bday and her friend Maralyn (who I had never met) even gave me a gift! The next day I got to go to Hooglins, where Rachel works. There I made my own glass beads with a torch. I was not very good at it, but I think with some practice (and much more money that I own) I could get better! That night a bunch of my friends who I traveled on the East Cape with turned out to be in Nelson. We met up for drinks and got to catch up. It was really nice to see everyone again. The next day Hayden and I drove out to Kaiteri in hopes of going kayaking in Abel Tasman, that didnt work quite as well as we had hoped (since we didnt book ahead) but we did get to test out some great coffee shops and see this place that has really cool sculptures made out of tree trunks. The next day we went wine tasting and out dinner lunch with Rachel and Ruth. It was really nice and relaxing and I have further cemented the fact that I am a chardonay fan and not much else. That night we went out on the boat and had dinner. It was so relaxing, we grilled chicken and falafel and sailed into the sunset. That night Hayden and I decided to sleep on the boat (well, try and sleep) in hopes of getting to the Nelson Saturday market bright and early. The market was really fun, it reminded me a lot of the Davis market with cool art and tons of fresh food to taste. Finally we made it to Abel Tasman to kayak around. It was really really beautiful. It felt really untouched. We didn't make it too far because I got tired out quickly but it was a really enjoyable afternoon. It was so nice to spend time with the Bennett's (my NZ family!) Adam called Monday night and said he would be there in 2 hours for our roadtrip (talk about short notice) so off we go!