Marlborough Sounds

Amongst friends

Here we go once more: A big hello from the Northern part of New Zealand's South Island! Or, to be more explicit, from the Marborough Sounds, a wonderful region of small isolated bays, dense forests and mysterious waterways away from the beaten tourist tracks. You may wonder how we ended up here and you very justly ask that question. I am not quite sure yet but I think the answer is that we have been very, very, very lucky with finding friends here in New Zealand and the people here are just so incredibly hospitable, warm and welcoming! In fact, our hosts Diane and Brian Pankhurst from Christchurch introduced us to their friends Dianne (careful here come the second one!!! :)) and Mitch Bates who own a wonderful secluded place up here in the Sounds. And as if it was the most natural thing in the world, the Bates invited us to spend the Labor Day weekend with them!

As you may see from the pictures, we ended up in a little paradise. First, we had to take the boat to get out here which already gave us a first impression of the beauty of the Sounds. Then, the Bate's house just overwhelmed us (especially as they built it themselves!!!). Enormous windows everywhere overlooking the bay and the beach with crystal clear water, a cosy chimney for cold evenings, a huge terrace to chill out in the sun, ... , and lots and lots of toys to play with and amuse ourselves: two boats, a yacht, kayaks, a quad, a tractor, a jet-ski, a recreational shed with a pool table, darts..., we did not know where to start.

The first day we spent having fun with the kayaks and trying to go swimming (we went into the cold water and stayed for more then 2 minutes so I'll call it swimming). David also helped Mitch to get the yacht into the water and we were very, very eager to go out fishing the next day. However, it started to rain. It rained, and rained, and rained... for four straight days without interruption. Yes, I am serious, this was no light rain or anything. It poured down without pause. Of course, this was very unfortunate and a little frustrating but at the same time we were soooo happy not to be stuck in the tent. Imagine!

Luckily, we had the best company we could have wished for. The Pankhurst and Bates were just so much fun to be with. We had the most interesting discussions learning tons of stuff about New Zealand, the life and culture here and when we were not discussing, we were laughing and having fun. Apparently, people from all over the world still laugh about the same subjects. ;) I am sure that David and I have not laughed so much in a long while and definitely not so much while being with other backpackers of our age! Thus, the rainy days turned out to be wonderful despite the first disappointment.

Mitch was even so nice as to take us out scalloping with his yacht even so the weather was so bad. The boat was just amazing (as you may guess from the pictures) and once again Mitch built everything himself. The people here are just so amazing! After having driven out of the bay, Mitch even let me drive the boat and it was soooo much fun. I definitely need to get my boating licence as soon as I have water around me and some money! For the scalloping, we let down a kind of net and pulled it over the ground for a while before getting it up again. In the net, there were hundreds of scallops (Jakobsmuscheln) and we had to sort them in order not to take the little ones which are thrown back into the water. We also had to count the amount of scallops we kept because you are only allowed to take 50 per person.

After two tours, we had enough scallops for all of us and we turned back to drive home. This time, it was David's turn to drive the boat and he enjoyed it as much as I did. Once arrived at the bay, Dianne showed us how to open the scallops, a very difficult task because you have to cut the muscle that closes the shells without cutting the meat in pieces. Once open, we then had to cut the meat from the shells and clean them. For me, it was all very exciting and so much fun. Of course, after all that work, the scallops tasted just wonderfully and I could have eaten tons of them (for all of you who know my love for "rote Viecher", it was about the same thing :)).

The rest of our stay was spent rather calmly. We played some pool and darts, I wrote a couple of letters and postcards, we watched some good movies, I went for a long walk through the rain, and mostly, we enjoyed Dianne's wonderful cooking and baking. Oh la la, that was different from our regular camping cooking and our pasta and tomato sauce!!! We savored every bit of it and when we think back now.... hmmmmm, it's still good! We also went to party with one of the neighboring families (there are six houses in total in the bay), and we thoroughly enjoyed New Zealand wines.

Overall, we spent the most wonderful time in the Marlborough Sounds and with the Pankhursts and Bates. I still have problems to believe that people can be so welcoming and so warm and sharing. It just felt like being with very good old friends. We would like to thank you, Dianne and Mitch, very, very, very much for the wonderful experience and for the opportunity to get to know you. It was a very enriching time and will definitely figure among the best experiences of our whole trip. We hope to see you again one day, either here in New Zealand (maybe in Christchurch) or somewhere in Europe! (In the picture from left to right: Mitch, Dianne, Diane and Brian)