April 25, 2016
Now realizing there were no spots to anchor in Kaiteriteri Bay, we now had no choice but to head 20 miles to the city of Nelson where we planned to finish the season. The problem with this sudden change of plan was that we hadn’t looked into weather for that area, and it turns out it was far away enough away to make a difference. While the forecast for the Abel Tasman area had been fairly mild, the winds around Nelson were blowing more than 20 knots from the southwest, just ahead of our beam. It was a long, slow, and unpleasant 4-hour ride to Nelson. What a relief to finally get behind the breakwater into Nelson’s harbor, but no fun at all trying tie up in our slip in these winds. We managed but it wasn’t pretty.
Once we were finally tied up, we were both really tired and really hungry. It was Monday, when many restaurants were closed, in that dead zone between lunch and dinner, and a holiday to boot. Thankfully, a restaurant called The Anchor came to our rescue: it was open and only a 12-minute walk away.
Wow, sometimes after a long slog, you end up at the perfect eatery for the time and place. The Anchor is the sort of classic, old-time restaurant you can find in cities all over the world. This one had a view overlooking the marina, comfortable seating, and was empty at this hour of the day. The wind was still blowing outside, making it feel extra good to be out of the fray and in such a pleasant place. Cold glasses of a local white wine made it even nicer. We split the eye fillet steak and the grouper and scallops thermador, just the sort of food that’s so good after weeks of more basic meals on the boat. Not that we don’t eat delicious food, but sometimes there’s nothing like those old-fashioned restaurant butter and cream-sauced extravaganzas to sooth your tired soul. We tried glasses of a different local wine with dinner, then had one more glass with our sticky toffee pudding dessert. This restaurant may not win foodie awards, but the dinner was delicious and I can’t imagine anything more perfect for an arrival meal.
The last two times we’ve stopped (by car) in Nelson, the hunt for a good eatery hadn’t gone so well, mainly due to lack of preparation (thinking we’d just find something when we got there) or to places being closed for a holiday period. We ended up at Mc Donald’s one time and went hungry the other. We hoped this didn’t bode poorly for the future; so finding a great spot tonight when we needed one meant a lot.
Back at the boat, we took showers before falling asleep to the sound of the wind howling outside. The conditions had escalated during the evening and the wind was now blowing over 30 knots. How great it felt to be in.–Cyndi
