October 13, 2012

  • Friday 12th October

     

     

     

    Well, the predicted forecast for Friday was wrong.

    And the last day of our holiday changed course because of that fact.

    I had planned to have a lazy day at the Lodge doing not a lot except rest.

    But the rain never came and the day dawned fair, so we decided to go into town and do some 'retail therapy'.

    Actually that was Tim's words of acquiescence to me winky

    One thing that Tim commented on several times was that each time we drove through Takaka, no matter the time of day or day of the week, the street was always busy and parks were few.

    This time I drove up the main street and then back down again looking for a central park.

    Finally found one at the south end of the street.

    It happened to be right outside a very inviting shop called 'Wildflower'.

    Tim wandered off to suss out stone grain grinders at the Organic Shop.

    I spent an hour trying on garments.

    It was a delightful place with lots of fun and funky clothing.

    I finally narrowed my selection down to 3 items, paid and wandered up the street.

    Keeping my eyes open for Tim but not seeing him so went into Mariposa.

    They have a store in Nelson but the Takaka one is the home branch and is much larger and is like entering colour heaven pleased

     

    I tried on several things.

    At one point I went out to the counter to ask for another size and found the girl unpacking some tops.

    I fell in love with them and tried on a couple.

    That was it.

    I bought just those 2 tops and left everything else.

    They were so hot off the press that none had made it to the racks and they hadn't even been price tagged!

    They matched beautifully with the skirt I had bought from Wildflower so I was very happy.

     

    I then went looking for Timmy.

    Found him reclining on a seat, waiting patiently.

    He had sussed out the grain grinder and decided to go home and think further about it.

    I have no doubt that we will end up buying one as we were both very impressed, but it was a lot of money to fork out without more thought.

     

    As it was midday we decided to take a wee drive up to Anatoki Salmon and suss the place out as we had heard so many great reports.

    We were very impressed with the place.

    It is a very innovative business.

    They farm salmon in the 2 large commercial ponds to the front.

    But they also release a certain number for the public to catch.

    They supply all the fishing gear needed and the processing of your fish at no cost.

    The only cost is for the fish you catch.

    It is a beautiful setting and a lovely place to wile away time on a lazy sunny day.

    We didn't bother fishing ourselves this time.

    Decided we would wait until we bring the children over.

    We chatted with a family who were fishing for '1 fish each'.

    The children were so excited about catching their own fish.

    We ordered the platter for two and sat on the deck in the sun watching all the other tourists.

    It was delicious.

    The salmon muffin was 'to die for delicious'!

    The salmon bittenballs were also very tasty.

    Between us we made short work of it all.

    Tim got lose with my camera again happy

    The Bencarri farmpark is right next door so we said hullo to this very friendly red deer as we left.

    We also saw an albino deer, a very large wide horned cattle beast and a Highland bull, but were rather weary so didn't tarry any longer.

     

    We headed back to Ratanui and got there with about an hour to relax before my massage.

    So decided we really needed to go for a short walk to the beach.

    Then we mosied back to the Lodge.

    As it was a beautiful afternoon the doors were all open to the unoccupied suites so I took the opportunity to take photos of some of the beautiful furniture that Steve and Pete have gathered in their travels.

    Aren't they just gorgeous?

    My 3:30pm appointment with Annie was wonderful.

    An hour of full body massage,

    While I enjoyed that Tim slept soundly.

    Holidaying is such tiring work winky

     

    I had time for a leisurely shower before dressing for dinner.

    I just adore a good shower, with lots of room and good water pressure, so I spent a lot of time under our shower during our visit here.

    We sat and read ome local history books and chatted with Steve whilst enjoying our cocktails.

    Then we enjoyed our last evening of being posh pleased

    This place is seriously that but so welcoming and friendly as well.

    Steve is an excellent frontsman and Pete a great chef.

    A great team.

    Our meal for the night -

    Curried carrot soup with a dash of cream and chive flower, served with fresh still warm homemade bread.

    Tim had Duck breast with homemade roast plum sauce and loads of vegetables fresh from their garden.

    I asked for the vegetarian option as I don't really do duck.

    They presented me with an Aubergine stack plus lots of fresh vegetables.

    What I really loved was that my meal was presented looking so similar to Tim's that you wouldn't have known it wasn't duck.

     

    We finished our meal with a Lemon Lime pie and yoghurt lemon cream.

    It was delicous.

     

    We were both tired so weren't too late in retiring.

    I could seriously have done with a few more days here!

    Thanks Steve & Pete.

    We will be back!