After 2 months apart, Jacinta travelled over to NZ over the Australia Day long weekend to catch up with me. This was sort of like a holiday within a holiday for me. It was great to see her and looking good. Apparently I’m a shadow of my pre Te Araroa self, having lost a lot of weight.
This weekend was also Jacinta’s birthday which made it all the more special. I left the arrangements to her and she certainly didn’t have a budget in mind. Spend it while you can I guess and live each day as your last.

I had a whole day to wait in Nelson and basically hung around town, eating well and reading lots. I’m onto book 3 of Game of Thrones and am hoping to get through the series before returning home. We finally caught up in the evening at the end of her very long drive from Christchurch airport to Nelson. But we had a bit more travel to do to get to Tasman and our holiday suite on the water front. No expense spared.

The accommodation was amazing. Floor to ceiling glass windows on 3 side overlooking the beach front and a balcony overhanging water and serving as a back deck. The worlds most luxurious king sized bed, to die for. To top our first evening off, calm still waters on the ocean and a perfect reflections from horizon to the shore of the full moon.

But there is no rest for the wicked. The following day we grabbed some bikes and headed off on a jaunt around the local coast and did a bit of shopping. We found the perfect present for Jacinta’s birthday a scale replica of an old school bike about a foot long and half as high.

The following day was off for more adventures. Rising early and travelling north to get a water taxi to Able Tasman and a full day of canyoning down the Torrent River. An action packed day. Donning wetsuits, helmets and harnesses we abseiled, jumped, slid and zip lined down through the canyon. There were a couple of big jumps I had to give a go, the first 6 metres and the second 8 metres, off the top of rocks to the dark, deep pools below. Wow!!