The Barn at Abel Tasman

We had another relaxing start to the day - we are all enjoying not having to rush to get ready, eat, and be on the bus.  Our destination for the evening is Marahau, located on the outskirts of Abel Tasman National Park.  On our way there we stopped at Pelorus Bridge.  Why did we stop there?  Lord of the Rings.  Apparently a scene that involves a chase with people in barrels was filmed in the river that flows under the bridge.  Not exactly thrilling for me, but we did have a big fan on tour so he appreciated the stop.

As I am not a fan the most fascinating part of the stop for me was when Jed introduced us to the Black Beech trees native to New Zealand.  Many of the trees are prone to a sooty mold fungi that grows on the trees.  The mold "is the result of a scale insect which sucks sap from the tree, and excretes honeydew, a sweet liquid, in small droplets on the end of stalks."  The fungi grows on the waste honeydew, but Jed showed us how to spot the little droplets and we got to taste it. Source & Source

Our next stop was the town of Nelson, the largest fishing port in New Zealand.  We stopped at the supermarket to buy our supplies for the next two days in the Abel Tasman as everything in the town is closed for winter.  After our shopping spree we did a hike up Botanic Hill to the "Centre of New Zealand".  It is technically the surveyor's centre, not the geographical centre, but the views of town were lovely anyway.

The Barn is an interesting place, and it's almost like camping.  We did have an enclosed, heated room, but the bathrooms were in a separate hut and the kitchen was not enclosed (and it was quite cold while we were there).  I took a short walk into the park before dinner and it was a lovely evening, hoping to get a nice sunrise tomorrow.

Our first time cooking together we whipped up a delicious Spaghetti Bolognese.  Has anyone ever had spag bol (the typical nickname for the dish)?  I don't remember ever eating it until I lived in Australia, and hadn't eaten it since.  Anyway, we also enjoyed a delicious kiwi-passion fruit pavlova for dessert, so despite the cold kitchen we had a good evening.

Vegetarian and regular spag bol with garlic bread - yum!