I flew to Nelson at 5pm on New Years eve. James had arranged 2 days accommodation in Motueka for us and collected me from the airport. Opting for a quiet night with our hosts and other guests, we left the group later and saw 2008 in under the stars. Just the two of us up to our necks in warm water and bubbles. Set well away from the buildings our outdoor claw foot bath had complete privacy and was heaven. Fireworks in the distance marked the moment. Precious.

January 1st I was given a tour of Motueka. James knows it well. First stop was lunch in town with friends of his before having a go on The Flying Fox (pictures included). Kiwi ingenuity at it finest! You climb into a space shuttle, bullet type of thing then the operator (and inventor - I wanted to commend someone and he turned out to be just the man) starts up an old tractor which winches the bullet to the top of a hill. Then he lets it go. Speed exceeds 100km p/h and you’re stopped at the bottom by a pool of water. Very cool.

Drove from there to Kaiteriteri Beach which was chaos, we couldnt even find a park. Onto Little Kaiteriteri instead where we had a wander. The sand and rock is very different to any Ive seen in Northland. Gorgeous little beach although ruined by monstrosity eyesores (aka holiday homes) just back from the shore. To whoever owns the white one, number 5 if I remember rightly, grow some trees or something! Not that you’ve left any room to.

Back to town. James offered to shout me a Sky Jump. He’s done it before and knew Id be keen. I was and I did! Wicked! Sally jumped, firmly attached to Stuart, from a plane 13,000 feet above solid ground. Another opportunity to completely underestimate how fast one falls before, hopefully, your shute opens. Thats James in the pictures about to be bowled by us landing. One of the ground crew had realised he intended to photograph my descent and offered him prime position. He’d also stood behind James explaining that its hard to tell how close your subjects are through a camera. James was pulled sideways at the last second.

Dinner and drinks at friends of his then more back at ours. Next day, yesterday, breakfast was leisurely before heading back to the airfield for James’s big adventure. Stunt plane. Apparently the only place you can do this in New Zealand and counts as an official flight lesson because you’re actually controlling the aircraft. He had a ball! Definitely now on my own to-do list.

Our accommodation was wonderful. We were treated like royalty with all meals home cooked and part of the service if we wanted them. The white bait fritters when we arrived were a real treat. Along with the outdoor bath our large two head shower was another novelty, a full wall of which was one way glass looking out at the landscaped back yard. Had some serious fun in both . Very hard to come home last night. I can think of no better way to kick off 2008. You’ve heard the saying “Start out as you mean to continue!”

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