There and Back Again: Jackett Island, Holiday Bach

The Center of NZ

Sat. February 25th - Sat. March 3rd, 2012

After camping Devon and I met up with our new hosts, Ben and Miranda Van Dyke. We had a very pleasant and relaxing stay at their home near downtown Nelson.

For work I (Eddie) did some heavy duty weed eating in their front yard and some more weed eating at their rental property. I'm a pro weed eater now. Devon put her professional education to good use helping Ben and their daughter Chloe develop a drink using Chia Seeds made popular for its appearance in the book Born to Run. Chloe is looking to make a herbal drink while Ben is trying to realize its potential as a sports drink, most likely a recovery drink. Devon spent many hours reviewing Nutritional studies and explaining Nutrition as a science to the Van Dyke's. Hopefully they have made progress on the development of their product and we look forward to hearing an update from them sometime soon.

During our stay we hiked up the hill across the street from the Van Dykes to the center of New Zealand. From their we enjoyed a nice view of the city. Later we rode bikes around the town.

We got to visit the World of Wearable Art and Classic Cars Museum, an interesting but fascinating combination. It was prohibited to take any pictures of the Wearable Art pieces since they are considered protected pieces of art. Nonetheless Devon and I were rather impressed with the creative pieces on display. If you have some time I would recommend googleing World of Wearable Art. I also enjoyed the classic cars museum as you can see why from some of the pictures at the bottom of the page.

View of Nelson

Also on display was a giant size ring from Lord of the Rings. There were 9 "One Rings" made for the film all different sizes for a variety of filming options. This particular one was made very large.

For part of our stay with the Van Dykes was spent out at their Holiday Bach or vacation home on Jackett Island. It is very long and narrow and sits just off shore from the Nelson coast. Nonetheless the island only has a handful of inhabitants each with their own holiday bach's. Traditionally New Zealand holiday bach's are little shacks that hold the basic commodities needed for a short family vacation to the beach. Room to sleep, eat, hang out, and store all the beach gear necessary for a good time with the kids. Lets just say Devon and I pictured a run down beach shack barely standing that we would be staying at for a few days and do some weeding, which we would have been perfectly happy with no doubt.

We also had a feeling this bach was going to be slightly better than a traditional kiwi bach. However, we were trying very hard not to let our Expectations out weigh our Reality so not to be disappointed, which is a lot harder to deal with than being pleasantly surprised.

Devon and I climbed in the car with our gear ready to spend 3 days at the bach. A 30 min drive later we pulled into a industrial sea side plant. Ben unlocked a storage garage to reveal a 8 wheeled amphibious vehicle with seats for 3 and cargo room. We loaded the supplies and piled in, drove a short distance to the dock ramp and drove straight into the water. Its a weird feeling driving a vehicle into water and expecting it to just sink and instead it floats. It was my job to shift around to balance the vehicle as we made our way across the short straight and onto the island. After a 5 min ride on 8 wheeled beast the holiday bach finally came into view. What we got was a modern looking building with a surrounding deck with awesome ocean views. A secondary building which housed a garage, washing room, bathroom, and guest room. The main building housed an open kitchen and living area, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and another room with 8 bunk beds lining the walls with a ping pong table in the middle. Out back stood a small herb garden and alarge area with a variety of different fruit trees. Further back stood a developing orchard of apple, olive, citrus, and native cypress trees.

The bach is also completely off the grid. All of their power is derived from solar panels on top of the roof. The roof and gutter system is integrated to collect and store rain water for use in the house. A solar water heater heats the water during the day. I was skeptical at first about how hot the water would be when to my surprise burned myself in the shower a few times. I also found a book on sustainable living and thoroughly enjoyed reading over the book. Their was also a fire place that we used a few times on a couple of chilly nights.

All the power you need.

While staying at the bach our duties included: rehabilitating the cypress orchard for it had been overtaken by weeds that were growing higher than the infant trees.

We collected Spinafax seeds, which is a native grass that is essential for preventing erosion.

Devon collecting Spinafax seeds

For fun we spent relaxing days sitting and reading while enjoying the perfect ocean view. We collected fresh mussels while the tide was out and tossed them into a pasta sauce. One day we took the kayaks out for a paddle around the inlet and out to the sandbar.