South to Hamner

Sunday was lovely and warm again, and we spent time preparing the van for more travels – emptying and filling, and getting groceries, and then we headed south to Murchison. We take things fairly leisurely on these trips so the 2.5 hours or so travel to Murchison was enough for one day. By the time we got there it was quite overcast and we were in for a dousing overnight.

We remember Murchison as having some old fashioned character, but this time it struck us as being run down and neglected. Probably the most activity we saw was in the NZMCA park and even then there were not many vans there.

The day was still overcast, with some showers here and there when we left Murchison the next morning and headed for Hamner. The weather meant that we had fog in the hills in places and the outlook was moody but still quite pretty in a different kind of way.

First on the visit list was Maruia Falls. Due to the overnight rain, there was plenty of water gushing over the falls. They weren’t particularly high but the amount of water was impressive.

To get to Hamner you have to drive through the Lewis Pass and by now the overcast skies had cleared and we got some great views of the majestic mountains (minus snow), and rocky cliffs. In one place the erosion had left behind clay edifices – why here and nowhere else we can’t explain. I guess eventually they may end up like the clay cliffs at Omarama.

We arrived in Hamner in plenty of time to find my cousin Sharon, and Chris’s property where we had arranged to park up. Hanmer is such a pretty town, with plenty to do so we are looking forward to staying put here for a few days.