Day 97: physio follow-up

My trail angel works next to the physio clinic so she kindly drove me to my 7 am appointment on Tuesday before she went to work. The physio didn’t seem so happy with my knee’s lack of progression and added a torn meniscus as a possiblity although a ‘sprain’ still seems more likely. Since it would take a few months to get an MRI here and I’ll be heading home in just over 2 months, I won’t know for sure. Happily, the Achilles is heading in the right direction and she progressed me in my exercises, as well as giving me a heal lift for my shoe.

I decided that I should stick out the next few days in Nelson since I booked a hostel for 4 nights and then try to go back to the trail. I also decided to make the most of my time here so I planned a wine tour in the region and a kayak tour to Abel Tasman Park.

Day 98: Nelson Wine tour

The wine tour was a lot of wine. We went to four wineries and tasted 4-5 wines at each place. The region grows a lot Pinot gris and Pinot noire, some Sauvignon Blanc, some Riesling and a few lesser known grapes as well. I have to say that after the second vineyard, it all started to taste the same. It was a lovely day nonetheless and interesting to learn more about New Zealand wines that aren’t from Marlborough.

When I got back, I relaxed for a bit and then went for a walk up to the Center of NZ. It’s about a 20 minute climb up (and then down) and I used my heal lift and didn’t have much complaint from my Achilles. My knee was okay on the way up but did grumble all the way down.

I made dinner at the hostel of fresh corn and sausages from the farmer’s market I went to in the morning.

Day 99: Rabbit Island

I booked an e-bike and then headed to the rental place to pick it up. I learned when I got there that they didn’t have any e-bikes left so I ended up with a regular bike. I biked out along the coast following a bike trail and after a few hours made it to Rabbit Island, which has a nice calm sandy beach. I swam and read there for a few hours.

The bike back to Nelson was the same route but I had a view of the Richmonds as I went.

I also stopped in at the Honest Lawyer, reportedly the oldest pub in NZ. It certainly looked quite old for NZ.

Day 100: Abel Tasman Park

I was up early to catch the shuttle out to Marahau at 7 am. The shuttle passes where I biked yesterday and then continues further up the coast. Marahau is just outside the park and is where most would pick up a water taxi to get into the park or start hiking from (the Abel Tasman Coast Track is one of NZs great walks). I found my kayak rental place and after a quick briefing and getting kitted up, we had a short drive to the beach in Marahau, where we launched from.

It was drizzling a bit but the water was still a beautiful shade of aqua and the beaches golden.

After a couple of hours, we stopped for some lunch at one of the beaches. We then paddled across to Adele Island and went around it’s backside. We saw a lot of fur seals basking on the rocks, as well as a few birds, mostly shags (type of cormorant). Although not 100% sure, I may have seen a little blue penguin, since I saw a bird that didn’t seem to sit quite like a shag in the water and that had the right coloring. It dove under before I got a good look.

The paddle back to Marahau wasn’t that eventful and then it was back to Nelson on the shuttle. Velma, my Airbnb host from the first few days in Nelson texted me to invite me to go for a drink at the Freedom House, a church that’s been converted to a pub with local craft brews. It was perfect since I had wanted to go there anyways. We chatted and I had a lager with Manuka honey and as I’m returning to St-Arnaud tomorrow, she mentioned that a neighbor is also going up that way tomorrow and she put us in touch so now I have a lift!

I’m still experiencing some knee and Achilles pain, but I figure that I need to get on with it and give it a go at some point so I’m going to give it a shot.