October 2007

We decided to take a week off to see a bit of New Zealand for the first time in ages. We headed south and west. This is Lake Tekapo which is about 4 hours drive from home. I was last here in 1992 with Cynthia, and Donna stopped briefly once on her way to Queenstown. We didn't stay here, but carried on to Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park, another couple of hours further on, having stayed the night near Twizel and watched the rugby World Cup Final in a pub there first thing Sunday morning.











The second day we travelled up the Matukituki Valley where we stayed for two nights, and biked so far up the valley, left the bikes then hiked for a couple of hours. It was uphill into the wind so the final bike ride back was great fun. This photo is looking back down the valley. We did another day hike out of Wanaka up the Little Griffel - a very windy hill with good views, then spent the night on a DOC camp site by Lake Hawea - our only night we paid to stay - $12.


After a rainy day we drove back up to Twizel, and out to Lake Ohau and the Hopkins valley. We stayed on a free Doc camp near the end of the road which we had to ourselves. Again we took the bikes, cycling an hour and a half up into the wind, then left the bikes and hiked for about 4 hours up the Hopkins then Huxley Valleys to the Huxley Forks hut for the night. We had intended going further but about a half hour further on, an avalanche had blocked the track and the weather was deteriorating so we went back to the hut - which we got to ourselves for the night, and retraced our steps the following day. This is the view from just outside the hut.

Waiau River 29th September

Just outside Hanmer Springs, an hour or so from home. Two of Donna's workmates were competing in an adventure race which involved cycling, hiking and rafting down the river. We followed down river on bikes then had to cycle back upstream directly into a howling nor'west wind.

Lake Coleridge 22nd July 2007

This is Donna getting into a very cold (8 degrees) lake to do her second day of open water dives to complete her diving course. That is a very thick wet suit she's wearing. Given the opportunity to do it in 28 degree water whilst I was diving in Thailand, she decided to pass. Yes that is snow in the background. The lake is about 500 metres above sea level and they had forecast snow down to 400 metres overnight but fortunately they got it wrong again. It was about 2 hours drive from Christchurch to get here.

Mt Hutt 7th July

An hour or so drive from home. It's about 1000 ft above sea level here, and it snowed Friday afternoon but as you can see it had mostly melted by Saturday afternoon.

Waikuku Beach 12th May

Donna Tim and Anne. Anne used to be my boss at Abbey. Both her and Tim were made redundant and given early retirement. Anne's stepmother lives in Christchurch so they were over visiting. They came over for dinner the night before, and we'd gone up to Waikuku which is the next village north of here to see her step-niece who lives down by the beach. They have a chocolate labrador pup - which explains why Anne is holding a stick which she's about to throw.

8th May 2007

No prizes for guessing where this was taken. It's about 3/4 hour drive from Woodend, out the other side of Rangiora, then it was a two and a half hour walk up to the top, during which time I saw just one other couple, and a very quick hour descent back to the car park, but my legs regretted that for about a week after. In case you can't read it, it's 1023 metres high. The next shot is a view from near the top looking across to Mount Grey which is just a bit smaller.

Mayday

Your typical English dancing round the Maypole in New Zealand? Despite living here for about 30 years, Dagy likes to keep some traditions alive - even though it was 2 days early so we could take advantage of the glorious April Sunday afternoon. We were entertained by a band and caller (in the foreground). The many guests had brought nibbles and desert, whilst Dagy, his wife Carol and various others had prepared a roast dinner for all - including plenty of veg for me!

Easter 2007

Donna and her dad outside the Mud House Winery in Waipara, about 18 miles north of Woodend. We'd just had a bit of a tasting, and Donna has a carry out for ron. Her dad and Rose were here for a few days over Easter Weekend - this was Good Friday.

We did a walk at the end of March, about an hour down to this deserted beach, about 24 miles north of Woodend by road.

Lake Taylor 3rd February

We spent the night up here and did a walk of about seven hours with stops, past another lake to a third - Lake Sumner. It was 2 hours drive to get here - the first on tar seal, the second on gravel.

Taylors Mistake 31st January

Martin on the cliffs above Taylors Mistake. Our second visitor John, who used to be my mum's physio before he retired, stayed with us for a couple of days at the end of January, so one day we did this walk of about 3 hours from this Christchurch suburb across Godley Head to Lyttleton Harbour and back.

Helen Bob & Martin

January 18th - our first visitors at home this year. Helen who works at Abbey and husband Bob out here on a 25th Wedding Anniversary tour. Unfortunately this was their last full day in NZ when we finally caught up with them, and they were staying with other friends in Christchurch, so we just got to have a couple of drinks with them.

Queen Charlotte Track

View from the track.

Donna Claire & Andy with lashings of lemonade and muffins - now this is tramping in style. A well earned elevenses break at Resolution Bay, on our 14km walk from Ship Cove to Furneaux Lodge. Claire is an old university friend & they were out here for a few weeks in January but couldn't make it as far south as Christchurch so we spent the weekend with them in Picton, doing this walk and a tour of the Blenheim wineries.

Waimakariri River January 4th

We went for a bike ride up the river bed - well it was partly on gravel road, but there's not a lot of difference between the river bed and the road. There was still snow on the mountains but it was a gorgeous spring day.

Christmas Eve in Canterbury

Not the best of photos, but this was taken nearby on Christmas Eve, and yes that is snow on the mountains. It was brief and it was soon gone, but was indicative of the summer we were having - occasional good days, and some very cold ones. Since the end of January, it's been a lot better, although we had snow on the mountains again the week before last.

Farewell Spit 9th Dec 06

On the way back down south we had a caouple of days of summer (this wasn't one of them) so we decided to stop off for a few days and visit the far north west tip of the south island, where neither of us had been before. This is Farewell Spit which is about 27km of sand.

Piha South Beach - West Auckland

On a rare trip out of the city whilst staying in Auckland in November, we went over the Waitakere Ranges for a look at the wild west coast.