Author: awayfromhomenz

After visiting the bike fence at Oparau, we traveled to our POP (Park Over Property) for the night. This was a little lifestyle block on the banks of the Marakopa River at Te Anga. We were welcomed by the owners, Joanna and Simeon and their little boy Boaz. They are not motor homers themselves but set up the POP stop as a way of meeting people because of the remoteness of the property.

We had a quiet night there, and the next morning their 4 1/2 year old daughter took us for a tour of their river path. She talked the whole way, and was very entertaining. We called her our tour leader, but had to explain the term to her, telling her that tour leaders in Italy have little flags that they wave to tell people to follow them. This little one was so proud to have got us back to camp (after a 5 minute walk), getting us to follow her without a flag! Judy was given a little gift of field flowers and miniature pine cones.

Commencing our travels again, we carried on down the road from Te Anga to Marakopa Beach. The river does not have much of an estuary here, and nor does it have much of a beach.

Although Marakopa was a charming little place there really was not a lot to see so after a lunch break we carried on to see the Marakopa Falls. Neither Bruce nor I had been there before so we had no idea what a magnificent sight awaited us.

The falls are large, fast running and beautiful.

The walk through to the falls was only about 10 minutes but with some good uphill work coming back. I (Judy) am pleased with the way the new knees are feeling with all the exercise.

After the falls we decided to carry on to the Natural Bridge. We had been there before a few years ago with Nathaniel and Isla, but thought we would have another look. The walk in is beautiful, with a lot of board walk and bush. We have heard that the best time to visit Natural Bridge is at night because of the glow worms, but we didn’t want to leave our visit so late.

Bruce had found what sounded to be a wonderful POP stop just south of the area called Aratiatia Gardens. After leaving Natural Bridge that was where we headed. We thought we had plenty of time to get there, settle in, and have a relaxing evening – ha ha ha.

We found the place without any trouble at all and we read the signs directing us to camp in the paddock adjoining the barn, but failed to read the next part which said if wet to park on the gravel area. So, into the paddock we went. What looked so green and inviting turned out to be soft and squishy and unable to support a 4 1/2 tonne motor home, and so began our first experience of being well and truly stuck. Our first attempt to get out was to ask the owners to give us a tow, but they weren’t home, so we spent the next 1 and a half hours trying to get out of the bog. We finally managed to get the motor home up onto pieces of timber, but knew if we tried making a run for the gravel we would again be stuck, so there we stayed for the night.

Our night was quite peaceful and the next morning the owner came and helped us out by towing us with her ute. Judy then set to work with the spade leveling out the holes we had made in the field, while Bruce set to work cleaning the mud off everything. When all that was done we set out for a tour of the beautiful gardens -very reminiscent of Judy’s Mum’s garden at Scotsman Valley.

Unfortunately, as beautiful as this place was, there was, for the second night in a row, no internet coverage and no TV. So after our tour of the gardens we headed into Te Kuiti so Judy could update the blog. Bruce made us a coffee while Judy tapped away and then we went for a walk downtown.

Te Kuiti has recently been in the news because of their new statue to honour the late Colin Meads, so were were able to get a look at that. Bruce had a good attempt at tackling him.

They also had a nice (but small) Japanese garden and a very large fibreglass model of a shearer in action.

The town was clean and tidy, but had quite a few empty shops, and not many people. However, they all seemed to be friendly. Interesting enough though, for quite a large town, there was no dump station for motor homes.

By the way, did you know that if you want to get notified of all updates to this blog, you can click on the “follow” icon on the bottom right of the screen.

After a day spent in Hamilton doing bits and pieces and time spent catching up with grandchildren Vanessa, Theo and Gabriella, we left town via Te Uku.

Bruce really wanted to get up close and personal with the Te uku wind farm. However, on the way to the wind farm was Bridal Veil Falls so it seemed criminal not to go there. Bruce and I had been there years before so it was time for a refresher.

The track to the falls was easy going and quite short. The falls were beautiful but we did not want to spend the time walking to the bottom of the falls as we had other places we wanted to be.

We had lunch at the viewing platform for the wind farm and although we could see several of the wind turbines,theywereavvery long wayaway Bruce was keen to do the walk into the wind farm so we drove to where the track started. We got a better view of the turbines from here, but they still seemed to be much further than a gentle walk away. The photo below was taken from the carpark. We decided that this was as close as we were going to get, so continued on the road.

We continued along the road we had started on to get to the wind farm and the falls, and it was just Judy’s luck that it was her day for driving, because what followed was about 35km of metal roads, and she really is not a fan! However, the roads were in pretty good condition and there was very little oncoming traffic.

The road eventually travelled alongside the Aotea Harbour which was not very impressive at first glance as it appeared to be very brown and muddy. I think the water must have been quite shallow here because when the tide goes out it is all mudflats.

The road eventually left Aotea Harbour and went on along the shores of Kawhia Harbour, which is where we planned to spend the night. We had a quick look around the township first.

Bruce was pretty keen on having west coast fish and chips for tea, but some locals told us which was the best place to get them, and that was shut. We therefore continued onto the camp for the night. We had our choice of spots as we were the only people staying there that night. When we arrived it was a lovely water view, but a few hours later, when the tide went out it was a glorious view of mudflats.

In the morning we took off for a good look around the area. We had another look at the township and the harbour, and then drove over the hill towards the ocean beach. The view from the top of the hill was spectacular.

The ocean beach had the usual acreas and acres of huge sand dunes. Judy tried to slide down the biggest one on her bum but unfortunately it really needed a sled to be effective. We had a long walk on the beach and got a good view of the entrance to the harbour. The dogs thought they were in heaven with so much space to run in and so much sand to dig holes in.

 

After our walk we then drove on to the main township of Aotea. This was a very small little place with only about 5 permanent resident households, but all the properties looked well maintained and there were some very posh houses up on the hill. The sand dunes at Aotea are across the harbour and are deemed to be a sacred place due to Maori burial sites.

The final stop in our discovery tour of the area was the the little bay of Te Waitere. It was a sleepy, scenic little place, with very little beach, and a cute little wharf with not much else.

I did manage to get a couple of great photos of birds though.

The final part of our discovery tour of the area was the Oparau Road house, on the main road out of town. We stopped there for a bit of fuel and and an icecream. Other places may have their fancy fences with bras on them, or hub caps, or padlocks, but Oparau has fences with bicycles.

We enjoyed the area, and looked forward to our next adventures around Marakopa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our night at Grahams Beach was not as restful for Bruce as it could be as our parking spot was right on the flight path for Auckland Airport. He said he would just be dropping off to sleep when another jet would go overhead and he would be awake again! Not a problem for me though. I slept well and woke well rested.

The morning was overcast but still pleasant so we took the dogs for a long walk on the beach. There was plenty of evidence here as well of storm damage with retaining walls being damaged and scoured out behind. Hard to believe when the sea looked so tame and there were several boats launching off the beach and many more fishing around the buoys in the distance.

After our walk we headed off towards Port Waikato. It’s a place we haven’t been before so we were looking forward to it.

The farmland we drove through atthe beginning of thetrip looked well cared for and prosperous. Itwas noticeable that the closer we got to our destination the poorer and more unkept was the land. The houses also started off being sited in tidy yards but the closer we got the more junk there was littered around.

The Waikato River, when wecame across it looked as dark and murky as it does in Hamilton. The bridge across it, and the bridge closest to the sea is the Port Waikato bridge.

The bridge is a two lane bridge but quite narrow, so for wide vehicles like ours it becomes a one way bridge. Thankfully there is not a lot of traffic in the area so we did not feel that we were holding people up.

We were interested to see a rather posh looking river boat oored in the river near the bridge. There were no signs of activity around it, so I am not sure if there was someone living on it or if it wasjust passing through. It seemed a strange location for it though.

The river at this point was about the same width as it is in Hamilton, but the closer we got to the coast the wider it became, until it was like a large lake at the entrance to the Tasman Sea.

There are two different parts to Port WaikatoThe coastal side is rough and rugged, similar to parts of Raglan. However, here there are large deposits of limestone lying on the beach ad extruding out into the sea. Reports are that these limestone deposits are the most likely place inNew Zealand where dinosaur fossils can still be found. We ooked closely but saw no sign of old bones! The rock formations were interesting though.

We then drove around to the other part of Port Waikato, which is the river part, before it hits the sea. This area is bordered by large, magnificent dunes, so we parked up and took the dogs for a ramble. The wind patterns on the sand were beautiful, but unfortunately the camera does not do it justice.

Time was marching on and we had to get back and find a place to spendthe nightUnfortunately there was no where in Port Waikato other than a motorcamp and reports were that they also charge per dog, so we did not want to go there. We decided to try and overnight at the Rotowaru Bush Traway, which was supposed to be apark over property for NZMCA members. However,after driving over an hour to get there, we could not get the code toopen the gateCloser inspection revealed that the lock had been vandalised at some point so we assume they changedthecode, butalso added another padlock. We had no choice but to drive back to the highway, deciding to overnight at Judy’s son’s place (Steve’s)

We got there just in time for a late dinner and a catch up with them before spending a peaceful night in the motorhome-no jets overhead!

After saying goodbye to Clarks Beach and the Shand’s we packed up and continued our trip south along the west coast.

Hunter was as anxious as ever. He has been shaking and panting every time we drive somewhere and all the homeopathic environmental sprays and mouth sprays have not helped much at all. Today I gave him a homeopathic remedy in capsule form, but still not much improvement. I think he is going to have to learn to get over  this himself. It is strange that all through our weeks of travelling last year, we saw no sign of this behaviour. Poor little boy!

Our first stop was at Glenbrook Beach. Again, this was a very charming place, made all the more beautiful by the calm sunny day. There were even some children swimming and splashing about in the water although I didn’t think it was that warm. Oscar enjoyed it though and even Hunter had a short swim.

The beach is not large, with stones at one end but a lovely sandy beach at the other. We had lunch looking out over the water and watching the fish jump. A local told me that they get lovely trevally out from the beach.

After lunch it was on towards our planned destination of Grahams Beach, but as it was early we decided we had time to go and see the light house at Manukau Heads. It was quite a windy, narrow road, but a much better drive than I remember the one out to the East Cape light house being.

The light house was originally built 144 years ago following the shipwreck of the navy boat Orpheus with the loss of 189 lives. This remains New Zealands worst shipping disaster. The light house ceased to be manned in 1957 and was abandoned altogether in 1986. Smart locals removed items of value and placed them in the Waiuku Museum, and they were retrieved when the light house was re-built by a group of keep locals – opened in September 2006 by the then Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The views from the light house are beautiful, and the bar looks somewhat menacing. I can see why our son in law Blair has such a respect for it.

After a good walk around and exploration of the light house we continued on to Grahams Beach, near the tip of the Awhitu Peninsula. This was another lovely place and once again we were the only visitors in the park over property.

The Iron Maiden was unlike any we had seen before and made us smile. The property is just over the road from the reserve and the beach, and the property itself was quite a large area, so room for the dogs to be on long leads. We had a quick walk on the beach but the evenings are getting noticeably cooler so we didn’t linger.

Bruce got the barbeque fired up and we had a lovely dinner of red wine and beef sausages and veges, before a relaxing evening.

After our uncomfortable night at Laingholm we headed south with the intention of  visiting the Clarks Beach and Waiau Pa area of the West Coast. The weather was beautiful so our spirits were high – excited to be starting the first day of our explorations.

First though we needed some fuel. Bruce decided that he had to find cheap diesel and was convinced that Papakura would produce the goods. However, this wasn’t to be so we searched through both Papakura and Takanini  before deciding that we were wasting too much time so we pulled in to the first Mobil station we found on the other side of the highway in Mangere. Needless to say it was only a few more kilometers down the road where we came across a Waitomo fuels station and the cheap diesel. However, we couldn’t fit any more in the tank at this stage.

The drive out to the coast was through prosperous looking, easy rolling farmland. We had to pass through Kingseat where the old Psychiatric Hospital was, and in fact, still is. I was surprised to see the old buildings still being used.

We arrived at the Clarks Beach reserve and parked up and took the dogs for a long walk along the beach. There was no wind, and the Manukau Harbour was as still as a mill pond. There were often fish jumping.

There was plenty of evidence of storm damage though with tree branches ripped from trunks in many places. There was also evidence of erosion on the beach with one sea wall in pieces and now totally useless in holding back the sea.

We were interested in some of the rock formations we saw. One rock below seemed to be a combination of fossilised shell, granite and mud stone.

We walked quite a way down the shore before heading back up to the road and making our way back to the motorhome. After a cup of coffee we headed further down the coast (a very short distance) to Waiau Pa.  The shore is steeper and there is not the same beach that we saw at Clarks Beach. However, it is still very scenic.

We parked up for the night at the Waiau Pa Boat Club property, and we were the only campers there. We felt safe though as the grounds are behind locked gates and there is a bright security light on all night. There is a big paddock next door so plenty of room to exercise the dogs.

Wewere treated to a lovely sunset before settling in for a comfortable and peaceful night.

In the morning we had a visit from two of Judy’s ex bosses from River Mill days – Gerald and Bruce Shand. Gerald was the first to visit and he is looking great for an 83 year old. He is still active and involved in his various business enterprises and travels often. Bruce came later to visit and he also looked good but was hobbling a bit because he had a new knee put in in November. It was great catching up with them and we were sorry to be told that the River Mill factory is no longer making bread.

A few meters down the road from our overnight park was a big two storey house that was being renovated. Bruce Shand was able to tell us that this was Huntly House. Huntly House is 107 years old, built in 1911, and had originally been in Palmerston North. It had to be sold to make way for a new subdivision, or be demolished. Fortunately it was purchased and moved in 8 peices to Waiau Pa.

Above is Huntly house pictured in 1970. Below is the house as we see it today. Bruce tells us that it recently suffered storm damage, hence the tarpaulins on the roof. It is a magnificent house and will be spectacular when it is finished.

We loved our time here and it was with a tinge of regret to leave the place to continue our travels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The  first day of our holiday started off later but planned but we finally got away at around 10.30am after last minute packing and organising bike chains and locks. Even then we forgot two things and had to get our very understanding neighbour Kristine to break into the house and remedy them.

The weather was overcast but fine as we left home, but there was flooding all through the farmland around Whenuakite, with the water level right up to the bottom of the bridges, so we thought they would likely be underwater at high tide. However, for the amount of rain we had seen, the roads were in pretty good condition.

Rain set in as we reached Auckland and we arrived at sister Kay’s (and Richard’s) for an afternoon cup of coffee. They were almost ready to set off for a few nights in their motorhome as well, heading for Waipu and then further north to Taurikura. For our part we were heading to Whangarei to spend a couple of nights with Judy’s Dad. The weather north of Orewa detreriorated and we were driving in heavy rain most of the way, finally arriving at our destination just in time for tea. Dad and Betty were well and getting very excited about their upcoming trip around the North Island.

Tuesday was also a lovely day so we headed off in Dad’s car into town and had a look at some of the beautification there. Of interest was the Hunterwasser booth as the first part of a big Hunterwasser building to come. It was lovely wandering around the waterfront on such a lovely day, and it came with the obligatory icecream and light lunch

Unfortunately Judy’s eye was feeling worse after the spike of a parlour palm went into it on Thursday, so there was a quick trip to the Dr before we went home.

The next morning had an early start for us as Bruce had to take the motorhome to get a part fitted in town, so Judy and the dogs spent a bit more time with Dad and Betty. After Bruce returned we had a quick morning tea and then we were on the road again. We had a stop at the gog park first to give the dogs an outing, and a quick bit of shopping before heading south again. Destination this time was Laingholm to see Judy’s daughter Catherine, Blair and the two grandchildren Regan and Ella.  We had a wonderful game of scrabble  with Regan. We were very impressed with his spelling of words and his ability to strategise and add up scores. Blair cooked a memorable meal of barbequed smoked leg of lamb.

We had actually parked outside Cath and Blair’s property but came to regret it overnight. The motorhome was on a big lean and the ground was too soft, in Bruce’s opinion, to use levelling blocks. Bruce had to prop himself in the bed with pillows so he did not fall out of bed. Judy woke up with a sore leg from bracing herslf so she gave up and slept on the floor. Hunter was a bit put out that Mum was sharing his bed!

We made it through the night, albeit a bit tired in the morning, with a resolve to only sleep on the level from now on. We had a nice good morning / good bye with the children before hitting the road south again.

While Motueka was a lovely place, we wanted to continue to explore the surrounds of the area, and intended heading as far out to Farewell Spit as we could, bearing in mind that the tides would not be in our favour.

Our first excursion was to Takaka. I had heard lots of stories of Takaka but was completely taken by surprise not only at what a bustling township it was, but also at the size of the township. To get there we had to drive over the famous Takaka hill. The road up is about 18 kms on one side of windy road that seems to be uphill all the way, before 9kms of relatively easy downhill windy road. The road itself is in good condition, and there are lots of pullover bays so we could let the faster traffic go past us. The views were amazing and not easy to capture on camera due to how high up we were.

Near the top is a path to a lookout which we just had to stop and go look at. The path itself was interesting with the rock forms alongside it. Maori myth says that there was a taniwha that used to come into the villages to steal the girls and kill the boys. One of the princesses he took was very clever and escaped, and along with the men, she set up a trap for the taniwha. The next time he came, they caught him and threw him into a big fire. The taniwha tried to burrow into the ground to get away, but it was not successful before it died from the fire. The rocks along the path are the bits of the back of the taniwha sticking out of the ground where he had tried to bury himself. I have to admit, I can see how the rocks would look like that.

The views were great and we took our fill of them before carrying on to the township of Takaka. One thing  that is very noticeable about this area is the emphasis on art. There are painted murals on walls, sculptures, and lots of roadside signs pointing the way to this studio or that one.

The township is attractive in that it is not pretentious –  is is quaint, but well maintained and well used. There are not many empty shops here. The emphasis for food in this area seems to be organic, and wholesome food, and the coffee was great.

We visited a great art gallery here before driving out of town towards the bays of Pohara, Ligar Bay and Tata Beach.

All of these were beautiful places. We stopped at Tata Beach for lunch, and took the dogs for a walk and swim on the beach. I went to use the public toilets here and was very glad I did because they were also adorned with painted murals. I made Bruce go as well so he could see if the mens were similarly adorned, which they were.

 

The beaches themselves were sandy, and shallow and without surf waves, so ideal for two dogs to play in. There were several other dogs enjoying the beach at the time and Hunter had a great time with one of them.

On our way back from exploring these beaches we chanced upon the Pohara NZMCA Park, which we understand is pretty new. It looked like such a great spot we decided to camp there for the night. The camp is situated between two large breakwaters. The one on the eastern side is a commercial fishing wharf, as well as a smallish marina. The boat below seemed to be acting as a bit of a party ship with a few girls on the deck dancing up a storm to rock n roll music.

The westward breakwater houses the sailing club and some boat ramps. On the land between was our park for the night, and between the two breakwaters was a very sheltered harbour.

We were taken with the rock formations in the area. The road out to the bays goes through a natural archway, which is about where the eastern breakwater is as well. The backdrop to the camp is also made up of some fascinating landforms.

We enjoyed our overnight stay but were woken very early the next morning by a truck tipping out a couple of loads of big rocks onto the eastern breakwater – very noisy indeed. As we were well and truly awake after that we got ourselves sorted and headed out to see Collingwood and Farewell Spit. This was a journey of about 20kms.

The first part of the trip was through fertile farmland, with quite a few one way bridges. As we got closer to Farewell Spit the land got flatter and the road travelled right next to the water, and it seemed to be level with the water itself. There were many drains under the road, and the water was very strongly flowing frpom one side of the road to the other (underneath it). In some places the water was starting to encroach on the road itself. We looked down one side street near the spit itself and it was under water. This road was the access to at least a dozen properties that we could see.

We finally got to the DOC park at the beginning of the spit itself. We had intended to walk a way onto the spit but were stopped in our tracks by a sign that said dogs prohibited, even in vehicles, so we had no choice but to turn around and go back the way we came. The best we could do was take a photo from as close as we could get, and as the spit is fairly flat, the photo is somewhat uninspiring.

We did get some photos of some of the birdlife along the way though, and the birds are pretty prolific in this area.

 

We headed back through Collingwood, which is much smaller than Takaka but still quite arty, and made our way out to the Anatoki Salmon farm. Bruce had already caught one salmon at the Ohau Canals, but decided it would be good if I caught one as well. It was getting a bit late in the day, so we hoped the fishing was going to be a bit easier here than at Ohau.

Anatoki have a large shallow lake, all stocked with salmon of various sizes. There were some pretty large ones swimming around in there, but obviously they got to be pretty large because they were too clever to take the hook. However, I hooked a salmon on the third cast, and although it wasn’t huge, it was an OK size of about a kilo.

We could not help opurselves, so we kept fishing and ended up with one more each. Anatoki then smoked two of the fish for us and we kept one as fresh fillets.

To say the fish was yummy was an understatement! However, it was time to camp so after a little nibble we headed back to Motueka for the night

 

 

After another rainy night, we packed up our camp in Murchison to keep heading north. We had learned by experience that Murchison is not a particualry dog friendly town – there are no walks etc. where we could take the dogs and walking by the road is unpleasant with the huge number of trucks that pass through. Therefore, the dogs had to wait for their walk this morning.

We took State Highway 6 up as far as Kohatu. We had travelled part of this road before, but this time we intended veering off to take the lesser travelled road directly to Motueka. The road works were still everywhere so the trip needed a bit of patience.

However, it wasn’t long before we found a lovely little riverside park to take the dogs for their first bit of exercise. The park was beside the Gowan River, and as usual for rivers in these parts, it was crystal clear. The river bed was made up of stones of many hues and colours – some solid colour, some speckled and some stripey. I don’t think the dogs appreciated them though.

The terrain in this area is very hilly and there is a lot of forestry, but also farming in the valleys and wherever there might be a bit of flatter land. There were a lot of old decrepit buildings, such as the one above, although not many as beautiful as this one.

We stopped for a coffee at a lovely cafe at the turn off to Motueka, at a place called Motupiko. It seemed a very popular place, and they had the best cheese scone that Bruce says he has tasted. Doesn’t say much for my efforts huh?

Once passed this turnoff the scenery started to change. We saw lots of hop farms, with their very tall frames. It appeared that the harvest was complete, because the frames were pretty much all we saw.

When we visited the Monteiths Brewery they told us they got their hops from the Nelson region, so I guess this is the area. It seems like big business here because there were acres and acres of them. We also saw a tobacco farm which was quite large. However, although there were many hop farms and there was only the one tobacco farm that we saw.

We also started seeing a lot of pip fruit orchards, with trees absolutely laden with red apples or buerre bosc pears. We stopped at one orchard that was advertising blueberries and purchased a large punnet of those. However, right by their gate was a sign for the Pokororo swing bridge so we left the motorhome in their carpark and went for a look.

The river it is crossing at this stage is the Motueka River. The swingbridge seems to be foot access to a couple of properties on the other side, so quite an expensive form of access I think.

The river is quite swift at this point, but remains very clear. I am not sure about the purity of it though, because as we were walking back to the motorhome the orchardist was busy spraying his trees. We were trying to time our walk so as to minimise our exposure to the spray and I think the farmer must have seen us. He was passing in his ute but stopped and told us that the spray was calcium. He said any spraying done after Christmas is usually calcium as the soils here are very deficient in both calcium and boron. I felt a bit better about it after that.

Motueka wasn’t far from there and the first place we went to was to my Auny Ellie and Uncle Gerald’s. Luckily they were home and we spent an hour or so with them. Uncle Gerald has recently had surgery, so I wasn’t sure how well he would be. I was pleased to see that he was in better health than I had seen him for many years. He tells me that there is more surgery coming though.

We camped up for the night at Marchwood Park based in the old A&P groundsnear the airport and it was a delightful place. The next morning we had a bit of a look around the town and then made our way to the port and the beach. Talleys has a big presence here at the port, but we found our way to the public area and went for a walk.

There is a nice walkway alongside the harbour, but what also took Bruce’s fancy is that they have built an ocean swimming pool. After the dogs had chased sticks and chased each other, Bruce decided he would have to try out this pool, so it was back to the motorhome to get changed and then off to have a swim.

The dogs then had one final swim before we had to go in search of a coffee.

It wasn’t long before we were refreshed and stocked up with fresh fruit and veges and some other necessities, and ready to tackle the legendary Takaka Hill on our way to Golden Bay.

We woke up this morning to a bright sunny day which was welcome after the rain of yesterday. Everything still felt soggy but looked fresher at the same time. The ground beneath the motorhome was solid so we had no concerns about getting stuck as we headed back into the township of Hanmer. Bruce had seen a couple of walks and we wanted to try one before hitting the road again.

First stop though was a stop at the bakery to see if they had any french sticks that Bruce liked so much the last time we were here. Unfortunately they didn’t, so we headed off down a path that we found around the corner.

As it turned out, the path headed through bush around the perimeter of a part of the Queen Mary Hospital, which is now closed. We were first greeted with the sight of bright red toadstools. I have seen the occassional one in the past, but never in such a perfect state or in groups like we saw today. Very picturesque while being highly dangerous.

Further along the path we smelt the odour of sulphur, and found a little spring that appeared to be coming out of the bank. It was steaming, so clearly hot, and the water was white with silica. This probably came from the same source as that used by the hot springs a little up the road. As the stream carried on, the weeds at the bottom of the stream were all white which looked a bit odd. Even further on the stream water looked like it had diluted milk in it, which you might have thought was pollution if you didn’t know where it came from.

We had not realised the size of the Queen Mary complex. Last time we were here we walked around the main building without realising all the other buildings that were here and also shut down and boarded up. What a waste of infrastructure.

After our walk we headed back to the bakery and Bruce was lucky enough to score his french stick this time. They must have just got some more out of the oven! We also got ourselves a bit of lunch and then headed out of town.

We stopped just outside Hanmer to admire the scenery – it never gets old. There was a brave young woman bungy jumping from the bridge pictured above but there was a lot of screaming as she did so. Looking the other way is the beautiful braided river surrounded by majestic hills.

We expected the road to be busy, and it certainly was. The number of trucks coming the other way was ridiculous, and this combined with the number of roadworks made travelling a bit slow going.

Every now and again we stopped off for another look at the world around us. We had not travelled this small part of the road before. We loved all the rivers, the mountains, the beautiful bush and some of the farmland. We found one river with a broken down swing bridge that had collapsed at one end with bits of metal dangling in the river below.

We also passed a big lot of forest that was all burnt and charred. This fire happened two days after we had passed through the area on our way south, and we were astonished at the extent of the fire.

We arrived back in Murchison late in the afternoon, and set up camp in the NZMCA park. It is a bit different here today with one other Dethleffs motorhome as well as a Dethleffs caravan.

We took the dogs for a walk down town to re-visit the butcher that we were impressed with the last time we were here, and purchased some steak for tea as well as some corned beef for tomorrow. We will try out our 12v crockpot again for that.

We also had a quick visit to the Dust and Rust second hand store that was closed the last time we were here. I found a dinnerset the same as one I was given as a wedding present in 1974. There were a couple of treadle Singer sewing machines (still working) and a reel to reel

tape recorder the same as the one Bruce destroyed as a youngster (his parents had just bought it but Bruce wanted to see how it worked!). Then we headed back to the motorhome for some french bread andf cheese, a beer and some relaxation. Such a tough life!