Nelson, Cain, and Abel Tasman

Greetings fair people of the land. The past couple months have been very busy here at the homestead, full of visitors and trips, and babies turning 1, namely ours.

In my mind, I was writing blog posts along the way, but it just didn't happen. I guess the same way that in my mind the inside of my car and my trash can don't look the same and my lounge clothes are more like Olivia Pope from Scandal and less like something Kimmy Gibbler from Full House might wear to a sleep over at DJ's place.

But alas here we are, and no time like the present. In order to catch up to the present though, we gotta go back, like 2013 back.

My brother Chris came to visit right after Thanksgiving. It was so great to have him here. As soon as he arrived, we hopped on a plane and headed to the South Island. I assured him it would be worth it. It was:

Where in the world is Chris Cope?

From the looks of that tiny spec - far, far from Crossfit Knoxville.

The Nelson region is stunning. We hit up the Morrison Street Café in town, a great find and Chris got introduced to what was the first of many flat whites.

 Next was the famous Nelson market.

Make no mistake about it this is not Adam and a random. This is Pic of Pic's peanut butter which makes our favorite pb. This guy told us he wants to dominate the world in the form of peanut butter with this stuff. It's that yummy, for his story click here (http://reallygood.co.nz/). This was basically like meeting the Mr. Gummy* of gummy bears.

Despite the charms of Nelson proper we headed out of town to our cottage. The first night we stayed in the Upper Bronte Penisula area, about  20 minutes away from city center. It was a fantastic location to explore the area before actually heading into the Abel Tasman National Park, our main destination. We went to a couple wineries, Wollaston and Neudorf.

Both were worth visiting, but Neudorf was the clear winner because not only were the wines delicious, but they had a sand box. Pre-baby I would simply see a box of sand with some toys in it or more like likely not notice it all. Now I see a mansion on a hill, the Mary Poppins of my dreams, a brief real vacation in the middle of my already happening vacation.  You get the point. It's the small things.

We went for a walk on Rabbit Island and had fish and chips at the Smokehouse and beer at the Golden Bear Brewing Company. Both spots are located in the Mapua Harbour, which had an easy, time stands still, what year is it anyway kind of feeling.

After a day down that way, we forged onward to Kaiteriteri, where we rented a bach.  One of the beaches we could walk to from our place.

We did some driving and exploring throughout Golden Bay, with a few stops along the way.

One stop was Anatoki Salmon, "a unique freshwater salmon experience," which is code for we have a lot of fish in a small space so you will not go home looking like a fishing loser even though everyone knows if you could really wish you wouldn't be here. Adam caught our lunch and they smoked it on the spot. Hazel loves her some smoked salmon.

Our trip to the actual park was great. Abel Tasman is known throughout New Zealand for it's white sand beaches a sparkling blue water. It didn't disappoint.

You can only get into the park by boat, water taxis will drop you at one spot and pick you up at another, depending on how long you want to hike for. It's great because you could stay in the park for 5 days or go for an afternoon, clearly we opted for the latter option. It was a beautiful hike and the perfect distance to do with a baby. She loved the boat rides.

 Another hike worth checking out if you are in the area is the one at Little Kaiteriteri beach. We just stumbled upon it and had awesome views.

Overall, Nelson was definitely one of our favorite places we've been. Thanks to Chris for coming out to visit us.

And, before I end this post I want to mention Tony and Allison Schlake. Tony and I went to college together and I didn't even know he was living out here until I met his wife, and their lovely daughter Maggie, at my local playground a couple months ago and we put it all together. While our time together was short, it was certainly sweet. They moved back to the States recently, but apparently it's a small world after all- even if you live in New Zealand. They are missed!

Next up....our trip to Oz.

*There is no Mr. Gummy