Nelson Trip, part 1 (and editing)

I’ve kept my days very full lately, but thankfully I’ve also been able to get some things done. I’ve taken this week off of regular school to work on editing my novel, which (so far) has been absolutely great. Today, my brain was feeling a little fried after adding 2,400 words to my novel while editing, so I thought I’d share a few pictures of our trip to give myself a bit of a break.

The rivers were still muddy after all the rain, but thankfully the roads were clear!

We took off for Nelson on the 9th of May, three weeks after we had originally planned to go. We had wanted to go over Easter weekend, but what with all the flooding over that weekend we instead went south to Timaru and Oamaru—you should remember the two posts I did about that a while back.

The slips on the hillsides were just amazing. Gravel was everywhere. I never realized the hills could hold that much gravel, but apparently they do! This washed out in the huge amounts of rain we had over Easter.

 

Another wash-out that happened over Easter—we saw this kind of thing all along a good length of the road heading north. It was absolutely amazing to see the power water has!

 

Just south of Blenheim—the colors of the vineyards were beautiful to see!

Friday evening, we arrived safe and sound at our friend’s house. Then, Saturday, we went exploring the area. Even though we had been through there before, we never really stopped to see many sights. So it was really neat to see some of the places around Nelson!

Heading north, I believe. We passed by lots of mud flats on the way. While they do look a little ugly (who thinks mud is beautiful?) I think I’ve started to appreciate them a little more now.

 

I loved it when there was a little water left on the flats! It certainly does spruce up the picture. And the mountains in the background (although not shown very well here) were gorgeous.

 

Arriving at Kaiteriteri! This happens to be the only picture we got of the sign. Oh well.

 

As soon as we got there, the children set off to climb the cliffs!

 

The views were stunning. And the day was perfect—after all that rain it was a blessing to see the sun again! (We were also very glad not to have made it up to Nelson on Easter weekend—this way we got a bit more sunshine than we would have otherwise!)

 

 

I found it slightly funny seeing that both oystercatchers were standing on one leg. :) The sea was such a lovely color that day!

 

Baby brother walked with the adults. He wasn’t quite sure about the water here.

 

And off most of the children go…exploring somewhere!

 

The view was…stunning. And the Bible says that we can’t even imagine what heaven will be like!

 

The little thumb-sized mussels were intriguing.

 

 

God’s handiwork is absolutely amazing!

 

 

Baby brother explored around the bottom of the cliff. He isn’t quite fast enough yet to run with the bigger children.

 

He had a playmate, though. She’s a great baby-watcher!

 

And then we walked around the cliff to the other side…but I’ll wait to share those pictures another time.

All in all, we had a great time in Nelson! I’m looking forward to sharing more pictures soon!

Now…back to the editing. Or bed. Maybe I’ll be able to get up a little earlier if I get to bed now.

~Esther