A tour of the inside of Corru Gate

November 2011 For a 'tour' of the inside of Corru Gate, click on the video. With summer around the corner, a holiday on 'the farm' is a must. With 7 acres to wander over, lots of trees and quiet grassy meadows, it is so relaxing to just enjoy the SPACE. The cottage still commands that WOW! WHAT A BRILLIANT DESIGN reaction from guests. We are just back from a walk down to Mapua and a coffee at Wharfside - the ferry is busy taking cyclists and walkers and beachers over to Rabbit Island. Enjoy your summer!

Mapua seaside village: enjoy walking and cycling

October 2011. Mapua just keeps on getting better - now there is a ferry running from the Wharf to Rabbit Island. Just 3.5km from Corru Gate, you can have a coffee and dine at the Wharf or explore the art studios and then catch the ferry over to the beaches and walking/cycling tracks on the island. This is part of the Great Taste Cycle trail which goes from Nelson to Mapua and beyond via inlet margins, countryside and beaches. From Corru Gate you can continue cycling past olive groves, vineyards and rolling countryside to nearby wineries like Neudorf or Woollastons and cruise to historic towns like Upper Moutere (Sarau).

At Corru Gate we have bikes you can hire (we have a fleet of 4 new bikes and 2 electric bikes as well as a child cycle trailer) or you can hire from local providers like Wheelie Fantastic Cycle Hire. Nicky and Lisa, who created this business, stayed at Corru Gate for 3 months. Electric push-bikes are WONDERFUL - just like ordinary bikes but they have an extra bit of push for that easy touring around the vineyards and cycle trails or towing the kids in the cycle trailer (Roger commutes to Nelson on an electric bike!)

Cycling from Corru Gate

February 2011 Last weekend we rode through vineyards and farms and covenanted native forest and beside streams as part of the Sarau Festival Gentle Cycling Company tour. OK, so we had to get our feet wet crossing a couple of fords but with temperatures in the high 20s who cares? At Corru Gate we have bikes which guests can use or you can hire the Gentle Cycling Company ones and do their fantastic tours. The Nelson loop of the national cycleway network will go very near us. Corru Gate offers secure bike storeage too - after all, the cottage is not visible from the road 300m away.

Get a movie on! Corru Gate.

October 2010.
Some spring happenings at Corru Gate:

The sheep have been shorn this week - photo shows Sara and Eli (Corru Gate guests) watching on.

Below is a rooftop video view from Corru Gate showing the garden, farm and views beyond.

Roger has a new 'gullfriend.' We have had 'Gary' the black-backed gull visit us these last few days. He is very tame and loves to be fed cat food as you can see from the video and photo. He was raised from a fluffy chick at a farm up the road. Corru Gate must be a haven - we had 'Gee' the refuGEE chook wandering over the paddocks at our place so she has now joined the flock, and has earned her keep by laying.

A short tour around the farm at Corru Gate

September 2010 Should I be shooing the wood pigeons away from the plum blossom? Oh, the dilemmas we face in life...

Check out the video here to get a sense of the farm at Corru Gate - the views, the orchards, the playground, the animal life, the entranceway to the cottage. It has been a warm and inspiring spring so far. The water slide is yet to be laid out, the sheep are due to be shorn - but the chooks are full-on laying.

Spring brings beautiful days for biking in the local countryside and beach walks hint at a lovely summer to come. Mapua seaside village is waking from its winter slumber and the wharf is buzzing with visitors dining or coffeeing at Wharfside, sampling a boutique beer at Golden Beer Brewery, and browsing Mapua Country Trading, Forest Fusion Functional Art, or Le Havre.

Sea, snow - and music

July 2010. A magic day today for Adele and I to sea kayak - just 4minutes away on the Waimea Inlet. We paddled around Bird Island and over to Rabbit Island. You may be able to see Hamish the kotukuku (white heron) in one of the photos. As we approached the Mapua Wharf we heard a band playing at the Golden Bear brewery so we beached and joined in the Independence Day celebrations. What a transition from stillness, quiet and wilderness - to rockin' music!

And last weekend, Briar and I went tramping up in to the snow in Kahurangi National Park. We stayed overnight in the cosy Lake Sylvester hut.

Chickens at last!

June 2010 Finally we have got chooks at Corru Gate. After renovation of our old chookhouse (special thanks to John and Sara) and much reading and researching, we now have 6 Hy-line pullets which should be laying in ?4 weeks. They are very entertaining and we are in the midst of training them to use their automatic feeder. They are very friendly and are easily hand-fed and held. Probably they don't appreciate that they have one of the best views on the property - looking over to Ruby Bay and down the valley. Soon they will get to free-range. This effort to 'feed locally' is also part of our Ecofest Eco Challenge. Future guests can get to have real free-range eggs - so, roll on egg-laying time!

Sea kayaking

March 2010 Last weekend, Briar and Roger explored nearby beaches and coves in our new sea kayaks. We watched seals and penguins and had a fantastic swim - no-one in sight! A penguin surfaced a metre from Roger's kayak with a fish in its mouth - it let out a surprised squawk and promptly dived again. Roger is a sustainability adviser and outdoor instructor and can recommend to Corru Gate guests suitable local explorations.

Big WAVE seen at Mapua Wharf after Chilean tsunami!

Lots of people gathered today at the Mapua Wharf when the tsunami was expected to arrive. We knew that it would be a minor event in Mapua but Roger did manage to catch this image of a big 'wave.' He also manged to frighten his mother-in-law by telling her of the big wave seen.....

Anyway, today is yet another sunny day in paradise with the promise of some swimming at the Wharf or surrounding beaches (provided that real wave doesn't arrive!)

Dolphins

February 2010 Dolphins in Abel Tasman! Last Sunday 7 Feb, Roger and a friend sailed a trailer sailer through the Abel Tasman. On our way back to Kaiteriteri after a swim at Fisherman Island we found ourselves amongst a huge pod of cavorting dolphins - many with babies. They somersaulted and leapt around us - fantastic. Roger has also bought a couple of windsurfers and Rowan (16) is learning just down the road from Corru Gate at the beach at Grossis Point.

That is the beauty of living here - beaches nearby and mountains and wild spaces on our doorstep. As one guest said: “Corru Gate – what a lovely spot, and NO TRAFFIC NOISE!! We have so enjoyed the cottage with its lovely touches of style while being so very homely. And excellent location too – Rabbit Island has been a total highlight (we almost had the entire beach to ourselves!)” D &D, Brooklyn, Wellington.

A typical Nelson blue-sky winter day

August 2009 Recent guests took these lovely photos - their comments are below. You can see the view to D'Urville Island from the farm paddocks; in winter there is so much to see and explore around the farm. The inlet walkway circuit around Mapua is our favourite after-work walk - and it is nice to finish off with a snack and coffee at one of the cafes on the wharf.

"Corru Gate rocks! We have loved every minute of our stay in Mapua and what an amazing little piece of paradise you have created here at Corru Gate! We really don't want to leave. :-( This has been a terrific base for our stay in the wider Nelson region, making day trips to Kaiteriteri, Motueka, Richmond, Nelson City etc - only a stone's throw away. Mapua Village is so gorgeous. Fab shops! Thanks Roger for all the very helpful information before and during our stay - much appreciated. We've enjoyed the potbelly. Thanks very much. Cheers - Dan, Melissa, Thomas, and Charlotte."

Lets go skiing/snowboarding at Nelson!

Rainbow Skifield is close enough for us to pop up to the field for the day. Rowan is especially keen this year as he is into snowboarding. We usually go up a few days each season and this season looks like a bumper one! The photo is one Roger took as we went up the T-bar. Rainbow is a fantastic intermediate field. Check out http://www.skirainbow.co.nz/ One year we even skiied in the morning and swam at Ruby Bay in the afternoon (well, up to our knees to say we'd done it!). The drive to the field is gorgeous and after a day on the slopes a hot chocolate at the cafe at St Arnaud at Nelson Lakes National Park is well worth it. There is also great open-air ice-skating at St Arnaud - as well as fantastic tramping. Who said Nelson is only a summer destination?

Abel Tasman holiday fun

April/May 2009: In the Easter holidays we drove the 30 minutes to Kaiteriteri and sailed in to Abel Tasman National Park, camping on one of the beautiful beaches. Our boat, a Scout cutter, was open-decked and very much an elemental experience. We explored Adele Island, found penguins in their burrows on Fisherman Island, while at night we had an exciting time following eels in the lagoon behind our campsite. Magic!

Guests to Corru Gate love the proximity to the Abel Tasman - they can walk, water taxi or even sail in like we did.

Autumn and winter in sunny Nelson

April/May 2009 The cottage is comfy, quiet and warm for autumn and winter. With wool insulation and excellent passive solar heating, you hardly ever need the woodburner going. Autumn has been phenomenally warm here - classic Nelson clear skies after crisp mornings. The nearby beaches and cafes are still lovely to go to regardless of the weather. Welcome to NZ's sunniest place! Check our availability here.

To enquire or make a booking, click here.

Sustainability, the environment, and Corru Gate.

April 2009 Lately, my job as an advisor to schools in sustainability has taken me out to our local rivers working on stream health issues.

At Corru Gate we have designed and maintained the cottage around sustainability principles - we like to think the cottage is energy and materially humble! You can see a real-time display in the cottage of your energy useage, you can relax in sustainably sourced materials, you can read about smart sustainability ideas, you can be part of (easy) water and waste processes at the cottage, and you can eat organic produce from the orchard (with a local wine of course) and you can expolre the fauna and flora on the farm. But most of all you can sustain yourself by relaxing, catching up with friends/family and enjoying NZ's best holiday spot - isn't that what a holiday is about?

Phew! It's nice to cool off!

March 2009 The kids like to cool off sometimes by swimming in one of the ponds at Corru Gate (quite safe). We have had some really hot weather lately so it is either swimming on the farm or may be on the waterslide (see video) or at Rabbit Island (10 min away) or locally at Mapua (4 min) or a local river.

March at Corru Gate

March 2009 While guests have been out and about enjoying the beaches, rivers, galleries, vineyards etc, we too have been busy relaxing (is that an oxymoron?!). Rowan and Briar love swimming and the wharf at Mapua (4 min away) has been a favourite for jumping off. Del and I are more tempted to have a coffee at the Smokehouse Cafe or Wharfside Restaurant and Bar next door!

Here's a pic of the Smokehouse - the kids are splashing somewhere out the window!