Takaka

I've been staying with some family friends  in Takaka. I was lucky enough that they were in Nelson the day I was coming to them so I got a lift from there which saved me the hassle! I've spent the past couple days hanging out with their eldest son (Zak) who I took mountainbiking when he came over to the UK. Naturally he mountainbiking as soon as I arrived. I fell spectacularly on the first hump and have been left with a fair amount of cuts and bruises. Despite this I still really enjoyed it. The first night we had a fire on the beach with Zak's friends and just hung about with them. The stars out here are amazing.

The next day they took me to Wainui Falls and a number of beaches along the coast. Totally amazing and such good weather! I tried skimboarding which was good fun. We travelled all around. All of Zak's friends have cars so we drove all over the place. In the evening we met up with some more of Zaks mates and went to this local community 'party' called the Backsendale Bash. It was good fun and there were some great live bands, some sounding like the Hot 8 Brass Band. The next day I played some sunday league football which was fun, although was very draining in the 30 degree heat. I scored a couple goals. In the evening we went to the Roots Bar where there was a kind of club night on. The Upbeats were playing (apparently they're a big deal in terms of New Zealand drumb and bass). It's not really my kind of music but the atmosphere was great so it turned out to be a good night.

We went bodyboarding at Fletchers Beach, a really quiet spot that you'd have no hope finding unless you were with a local. Was amazing.

We also went for a look around at Wahariki Beach.

I'm doing the abel tasman coastal walk starting tomorrow. It's one of the Great Walks.