Good Friday, Good Morning Nelson

The weather out in our little picnic area nestled among the Marlborough hills was dark, misty and chilly to the point of being a little frosty at 6:30 this morning. Even the cows seemed to have found shelter somewhere warmer.

In defiance of the cold weather, I popped the back of the van and proved that we could still have a decent breakfast.

#Glamping

With no small amount of difficulty and only one gas stove and a frying pan, I rustled up poached eggs on toast, made special with lime and coriander aioli in lieu of hollondaise.

We set off into the low, blue cloud that hung over the road and gradually defrosted our toes. Nelson was less than an hour's drive and we arrived shortly after 9am, when the streets were close to being deserted.

Nelson neighbourhood

Parking up at the i-Site tourist information office, we took a short walking loop along the Maitai river and up to the "Centre of New Zealand" - a small peak that was historically used as a reference point for surveyors.

Maitai river walking path

By the time we reached the top of the hill, the sun had burned off all cloud and was beating down.

Surveyor's view of Nelson

Descending into town, we found many places closed for Good Friday, and those that had opened their doors charging extra for the privilege. We took up a seat on sunny Hardy St. and had an ice cream at Lambretta's. A scrumptious boozy trifle flavour vied for the top spot in our affections.

Moped chic

Despite wanting to bask longer in the sunshine, we pushed on in order to make progress down what we assumed would be a winding path to our overnight stop in Abel Tasman park. Given that we were venturing for the next couple of days into remote locations, I thought it prudent to make sure we were stocked up with supplies. However, I had not reckoned with the trading laws of New Zealand, which meant that all supermarkets were closed for the entirety of Good Friday. Nevertheless, I made sure that the tank was fuelled up and we made our way up SH60 towards Motueka.

Motueka is famous - at least to me - for hops. I had envisaged vast fields of the eponymous hop growing, but we saw none, instead seeing the now familiar sight of acres of grapevines. I pulled us up at the Sprig & Fern tavern on Wallace St., hoping for a glass of something pale and interesting to celebrate the fact that we were passing through the home of hops. Alas, the pub was also closed for the Friday (and Sunday) of Easter. Dismay.

Worse still, we hadn't managed to replenish our stocks of beer in Nelson, so I was pleased to see a 'dairy' (as convenience shops are called here) that was open, trading and had fridges of cold beers. As I was surveying the selection, a lady sidled up and announced that it was "no good looking in there - you can't buy alcohol in the whole of New Zealand today". Tragedy. Apparently, the Sale of Liquor Act prohibits selling alcohol on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and  Christmas Day unless for purposes of dining. Boo.

Hawke's Bay lookout over Tasman Bay towards Nelson

We wound our way onwards up steep, buttock-clenching mountain roads and straight across the intervening valleys until the road suddenly turned into a gravel track. Not wide enough for two cars at once, I negotiated the hairpin bends over the final 10km stretch to Totaranui DOC campground with care.

Beach at Totaranui

Totaranui campsite is large - to accommodate the huge volume of visitors in peak season - and situated just set back from the beach. Having been met by a very friendly and smiley ranger, we parked up in a patch of sun and popped the back of the van. We both braved a cold shower; the camping fee sadly doesn't extend to warm facilities. In fact, while the natural beauty is the reason to come, most of the facilities are a little antiquated.

Needless to say, we didn't do any washing

I began to prepare dinner with haste, not wishing to cook by moonlight as we had a couple of nights ago. Our cool box was replete with fresh vegetables and a tub of fresh tofu from the one Asian shop in Motueka that was not closed, so I threw that, broccoli, green beans, aubergine, onion, and garlic into a stir-fry with sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce.

I'll stir fry you in my wok

With no new beers, we had to break into the reserves of Moon Dog's Perverse Sexual Amalgam - a wild sour ale that is as bizarre as its name, tasting like a Black Forest gateau with a balsamic glaze - and, as the temperature cooled, Mike's creamy chocolate Robust Imperial Porter.