Motueka

Not a lot happening the past few days, made it to Murchison where I stayed at NZMCA pop right in town (ok, its only a small town) which was very handy to the ice-cream shop! Been really hot down here.
From there I found a nice cool spot just below the Hope Saddle on the way to Motueka. Cool it was, woke up in the morning absoluetly freezing. The journey down the valley into Motueka was one of the nicest drives I've had so far - orchards growing apples pears and .... hops. Here I finally get to see what hops look like on the vines and up close.

In Motueka I stayed at the RSA pop and it was so hot I actually went in and had a beer - my first for ages. I tried to find a flying site and  following the Soaring.co.nz thread I headed down to Kina Beach Rd 8km east of the town. No luck, the cliff was totally unsuitable to fly (Don't know how Dave Pope got much of a fly here). As I left Motueka and climbed up over the Takaka Hill (very long slow climb in my beast) I looked back and got these shots of the area.

And this one is for Ralph to show how hopelessly overhung with trees that flying site was...

I was going to try and get to see Haywards Hole, a 180m deep sinkhole in the Karst landscape, but the road was too narrow for campervans (they have signs advising this) so I had to abort. Might be able to hitch a ride there on the way back.
And last up, I found a men's toilet along the coast in Golden Bay with this on the wall...