Wednesday 2nd January – on a boat!

It was a perfect morning for a boat ride.  We boarded the Edwards’ boat out of Motueka and powered up towards Abel Tasman National park where we saw seals and visited split apple rock, where we had a swim.  All this and we were still back to the house before 2pm. Brace yourself for a photographic montage!

Huihana enjoying the sunshine

Other 'boaties' enjoying the conditions

Boys showing off and, below, Huihana gets to take the controls:

Seal spotting

Kayakers touring the Tasman coastline...

Split apple rock

Heading back to land after our swim

A number of shags having an enjoyable bask

We got the Kellas’s to the airport to catch their flight home to Auckland – but only just! Because we were so close to the airport and they only had hand luggage they were super-relaxed about walking into the airport last-minute. So last-minute in fact, that the airline was making an announcement calling out their names to report to the boarding gate as they walked in!

We had also arranged to move on to Libby’s Dad’s place in Brooklyn, which is just passed Motueka. And what a place! The house is perched up in the hills with panoramic views across an orchard:

We met numerous members of the family who had been spending quality time with each other, including Lib’s Step-Mum who was a little strange to say the least. She seemed to think that Libby had made no mention of us planning to come to visit and/or stay over, which was nonsense.  It came across as quite rude, not only to us but also to Libby to be honest! They say if you haven’t got anything nice to say about someone then don’t say anything. I’ll avoid mentioning Libby’s step mum so that I don’t bring the vibe down! That said, Libbys Dad and her sister Katie made us feel very welcome.

We compromised on that night’s accommodation by agreeing to stay in a large tent already set up at the top of the hill by their house.  We were allowed access to a bathroom in the house.  Poor Libby was confined to a caravan on the front drive and had been staying there since before Christmas. It was clear we needed to get Libby the heck out of there for a few days! We disappeared to a pub nearby for dinner and to catch up on life and friends in the UK, as we hadn’t seen Libby since October 2017. We left it as late as possible to return to the house and make ourselves scarce, heading straight up to bed in our penthouse tent, or ‘tenthouse’ if you will?!