South Island tripping around

We got back to the mainland - yippee! The South Island remains as beautiful as ever...and actually has this mythical thing called SUNSHINE.

Spent a couple of lovely days in Christchurch including catching up with friends. Took a tour around Chch East and the Sumner region - wow, what a change from September. The lovely Sumner/Redcliffs/Scarborough Hills are now a sheer face with some houses still dangling off the edge. Containers line the cliff edges to stop any rocks that fall off the hills running onto the streets. The road level looks like it changes daily. Avonside, Parklands and Bexley also look like war zones - the liquefaction damage in Parklands is striking. That being said, the rest of the city is looking quite well. There's even new building in Merivale and Riccarton and a good sense of energy in Addington. And I'd forgotten how great the produce and meat is...heaven! C4 Coffee didn't disappoint and C1 Espresso is due to open again soon. Great to see the peeps for a drink too :)

For the first time we wandered around Orana Park which was a pleasant couple of hours (it would have been less if a certain person hadn't needed to photograph everything...). Some of the photos:

Got to get in a good teabagging

Cat napping

Sable antelope apparently...

What you lookin' at Willis?

Went up to Hamner Springs - we've never managed to get much out of Hamner (despite a few attempts!). This time went on a couple of the local forest walks including up Conical Hill which gives a view of the city. Despite a pleasant day we're just not sold...although some of the facials at the spa did sound nice...

The view from Conical Hill

Finally made it down the Rainbow Road the next day. This is a spectacularly pretty gravel road that runs from Hamner Springs to St Arnaud, about 110km (90km unsealed). We drove towards St Arnaud and think this is the better option - unless you're planning to indulge in the Hamner spa at the end of the day. The road crosses two of the major South Island stations (Molesworth and Rainbow) and enters the Upper Wairau Valley. The road is open from December to April and tolled at the Old Rainbow Homestead or you can get keys from the station.

The recommendation is for a high-clearance 4WD. Technically, you could take a 4WD car that you didn't care too much about (e.g. a Subaru, why people, why?) until the Rainbow/Molesworth boundary, about 60km in. On the actual Rainbow Station there are a number of fords, some of which are uneven rock or concrete based and the concrete has moved, making the access interesting. A proper good clearance 4WD is needed between St Arnaud and the Rainbow boundary. Fair game on a motorbike too.

This was definitely one of the more scenic 4WD trips we've done (and we've done a few!) - changing landscape from grass and tussock to towering shingle to racing rivers and craggy mountains. Some pretty good mist too.

Lake Tennyson

Halfway up the Island Saddle

The Island Saddle- 1366m above sea level...

The Molesworth/Rainbow Station boundary

Views of the Upper Wairau Valley

Berts Creek

Lees Creek - man that is a dodgy bridge!

The day finished well with a vineyard crawl...hmmm...we *may* have bought 20 bottles in 2 hours! Good efforts from Spy Valley Wines, Isabel Vineyard, Omaka Springs Estate, Hunters Wines and Te Whare Ra Wines. Cheers!

The haul...

Hmmm, the cellar may be over 140 and may need to be listed on the insurance! Ah well, no more holidays until September now :( Back to work to pay for it all...

The Rose

North Island tripping around

Hail to time off work!

We've been tripping around the country starting with the North Island which was a hasty change due to rubbish weather down south. The kayaking in Te Anau and Fox Glacier will have to wait.

Firstly, finally had a reasonable day to wander out to Makara. Walked around parts of the Skyline Walkway before heading to Makara Beach. Climbed up the surprisingly steep hill that is the start of the Makara Walkway for some lovely views of the water.

Westwind Farm

Moved on to Rotorua for a camping holiday although unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough for kayaking either! However we finally got out on some of the tracks we'd been keen to do.

Out of Kawarau via the forestry track is the access to the Tarawera Falls. We took the longer Tarawera Outlet walk which was 2 1/2 hours return including time for photos and gawking at the falls. There is a 20 minute option although I don't know why you'd bother... There had been a lot of rain in Rotorua and the river volume and size of the boulders that had come down taking out some of the path was impressive! The Tarawera River goes underneath the rock and plunges 65 metres down a sheer cliff as the Tarawera Falls - swimming options in the river are limited unless you want to be sucked into the rocks to a watery grave! The walk was worth it - beautiful views and the falls were fantastic.

The Tarawera River - the river was really high meaning that the level changes looked great:

The forest was pretty cool...

Rockfall on the path - one of the alternate routes had been closed due to the river level taking out the bridges!

Where's Wally?

Wasn't kidding about the swimming...

Tarawera Falls

Although we'd hoped to kayak the next day on Lake Okataina, it was not to be so we headed out to Rotokakahi/Green Lake. This lake is privately owned and considered sacred and used to be closed to the public. There is now a dodgy forestry road to access the lake and local walks. We managed to find an even dodgier one that lead to a 9 point turn too :)

And then a lovely walk through one of the tracks in The Redwoods, Whakarewarewa forest. This is such a must-see part of Rotorua - free walking and mountain biking tracks of all grades through beautiful mature trees. We chose the Pohaturoa Track that climbs up behind Whakarewarewa giving views of Rotorua and Pohutu geyser - a 2 hour round trip.

Whakarewarewa

Pohutu Geyser

Natural retaining on the cliff!

Overall? A nice trip, shame some things were ruined by the weather - NZ hasn't had summer this year that's for damn sure. Rotorua looked pretty alive too.

Righto, off down south next week!

The Rose