Meet the Jacksons
We would be meeting the Jacksons, our farmstay help exchange host, at Westport. Early in the morning, we checked out the Backpackers and bought 2 tickets at the Intercity Coach office in Nelson town to Westport, where Bill and his family will meet us for the first time.
The weather was bitterly cold that morning in Nelson. I had on 4 layers of clothing! (nope, i didn't count my bra as one layer) It's a shame we didn't have much time to explore Nelson though.
Nelson town on a cold morning
hit the road, jack!
The journey from Nelson to Westport took about 4.5 hours. Along the way, we passed by the Buller River, one of the actual shooting scenes from LOTR.
Buller River- it did look like Ganduff or Legolas might cross the river on a horse at anytime
Buller River
At about 11.00am, we arrived at Westport. We finally met Bill, Leitu, and their lovely daugther, Lakei. Together with them was cute little Jessie May, a two year old Lakei was babysitting. They were all nice and friendly folks. We were invited to join them for tea. After that, we followed the family to do some grocery before heading back to Karamea.
It was about 1 hour plus drive from Westport to Karamea and the roads were winding. The bus fare would cost $28 per person according to Bill. We were indeed lucky in our arrival timing as the family only goes to Westport once every few weeks.
On our way back, Bill pulled over at some place and explained that there was a 'secret look out' Lakei and friends had discovered before and wanted to show us. It was indeed secret as one had to hike through some bushes to get to the 'secret point'. It was a cliff overlooking the valleys we had travelled and the view was awesome. It was one nice and refreshing pit stop.
view from the secret point
The lovely farm house on Atawhai farm
The weather was bitterly cold that morning in Nelson. I had on 4 layers of clothing! (nope, i didn't count my bra as one layer) It's a shame we didn't have much time to explore Nelson though.
Nelson town on a cold morning
hit the road, jack!
The journey from Nelson to Westport took about 4.5 hours. Along the way, we passed by the Buller River, one of the actual shooting scenes from LOTR.
Buller River- it did look like Ganduff or Legolas might cross the river on a horse at anytime
Buller River
At about 11.00am, we arrived at Westport. We finally met Bill, Leitu, and their lovely daugther, Lakei. Together with them was cute little Jessie May, a two year old Lakei was babysitting. They were all nice and friendly folks. We were invited to join them for tea. After that, we followed the family to do some grocery before heading back to Karamea.
It was about 1 hour plus drive from Westport to Karamea and the roads were winding. The bus fare would cost $28 per person according to Bill. We were indeed lucky in our arrival timing as the family only goes to Westport once every few weeks.
On our way back, Bill pulled over at some place and explained that there was a 'secret look out' Lakei and friends had discovered before and wanted to show us. It was indeed secret as one had to hike through some bushes to get to the 'secret point'. It was a cliff overlooking the valleys we had travelled and the view was awesome. It was one nice and refreshing pit stop.
view from the secret point
sitting on the edge
Soon, we arrived at our destination: Wangapeka Backpackers Retreat and Farmstay at Atawhai Farm, located near the Wangapeka Track. We were told that Atawhai in Maori means to take care and welcomed. That's exactly how we felt throughout our farmstay from day 1!
Welcome to Wangapeka Backpackers & Farmstay!
The lovely farm house on Atawhai farm
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