Arrival and Dun Mt Trail

Date: 11 Jan 2015 Time: 2100 Position: Anchored in Nelson Harbour
Well the last night of our Trans Tasman was spent coaxing the boat along between Farewell Spit and Nelson in Tasman Bay with a fading breeze. We had booked customs and quarantine for 0800 Saturday 10th so we now had a deadline to meet which meant motoring when the boat speed fell below 4 knots. We did 3 hour watches on this stretch and when I came up at 3am we had the motor on and the mainsail up. Soon after, a new breeze came up from the SW so I unfurled the headsail and turned the motor off to enjoy the last leg of sailing in totally flat water 45 degrees off the breeze. We got cranking along at 7 knots in the 10 knots true wind speed, Awesome!
The sunrise was brilliant with fingers of cloud flowing over the hills to the east while the range to the west was lit up with a deep golden light as the sun rose.
A call to Nelson harbour radio at 7am confirmed our appointment to clear in to New Zealand. We tied up to a tug as directed, managing to avoid rubber scrapes along the boat. The Customs and Quarantine officers were efficient, helpful and friendly and even had some recommendations for the local mountain bike trails such as the Coppermine track otherwise known as the Dun Mountain Trail.
The voyage statistics were as follows, total Nautical Miles sailed 1,302 and sailing time 9 days and 21 hours. We actually had to motor for 32 hours over the last 2 days due to a lack of wind. I would normally float around and wait for a breeze to fill in but we were so close to our destination we decided to burn fuel.
Nelson is a lovely, small vibrant town similar to Launceston. We spent Saturday afternoon walking around the town centre and getting our land legs back.
Today we tackled the Dun Mountain circuit on our mountain bikes which was fantastic. We climbed 1000 metres along an old horse drawn railway line that took us from the outskirts of Nelson through stunning forests climbing steadily up to an old copper and chrome ore mining area on a ridge at the foot of Dun Mountain. It was a hot dry day and the crystal clear streams along the way kept us refreshed. The vistas were stunning back across the steep valleys and hills to the sea. The bird song was delightful to listen to. The real fun began on the descent from the saddle on a purpose built mountain bike track with great switch backs on compacted gravel and rock, a lot of loose rock kept our attention and focus to stay on the trail especially as the drop off to the side was very steep most of the time. We zoomed down through the Mattai Valley beside a clear mountain stream back into Nelson and a well deserved huge double scoop New Zealand ice cream.

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