To make a nice, smooth Chopper start with two fingers of gin, add flavor with natural cranberry juice, sweeten it with a spoon of brown sugar and finalize it by filling up the glass with sparkling water. Try it and you’ll know why this new drink will conquer the world in a storm … that’s at least what Marty and I thought after our days of chopping down Manuka trees to fill up the firewood supplies 😉
After staying with Marty, my second workaway host, and his two sons in Nelson for a few days, it was time to get to work. So Monday morning we packed food and cloth for a week and started our way to Marty’s house in beautiful Nydia bay in the Malbourogh Sounds. The property is accessible either by a two hour boat trip from Havelock, the birth town of good old Ernest Rutherford (as my former Chemist professor would say), or by walking in three hours via Rai Valley. As Marty’s boat is currently undergoing some maintenance we had to go for the second alternative.
After arriving at the house which Marty build about 30 years ago, we settled down by heating up the ovens and making hot cups of tea. The next days then were filled by exploring the area. Marty showed me around in the bay by boat, we visited Ella the pet eel and I did some walking on my own. We also did lots of cooking, including fresh mussels and ousters directly out of the water, discussed about the world and Marty also gave me my first lessons in meditation and playing the guitar. Last but not least we of course also filled up the firewood supplies.
During the week we had great luck with the weather. Although it was quite fresh in the mornings, after some hours of fog, the sun always came out and lighted the bay in beautiful colors. Almost every night you could see the Milky Way. Only at the end of the week the weather seemed to change towards rain and so we decided to leave one day earlier and started our hike back towards Nelson on Saturday, this time with much less weight on our shoulders. It was sad to say farewell to such a magical place!
