Our adventure of a good night's sleep over, we left Hinds and started to drive up into the foothills toward the Black Hills Range.
A beautiful sunny morning.
Bits of mist at first, blowing off in a short while. Fields of cattle, all staring a us. No breakfast in sight. More to the point, no coffee yet, other than the instant in our room.
Quite a lot of the crop fields have self travelling watering systems. We saw this type and the circling type all over the place.
Hawks were everywhere. Really, he's in there...
We found a small cafe/souvenir place in a little town called Mayfield. It was very early, but it was open. A great breakfast, great coffee and the sun out full on for the rest of the day.
Slowly climbing into the foothills, taking in the landscape. It is such a contrast to the rest of this stairway world, all steep and crumpled cardboard hills.
We took a side road that looked like it would take us to a ski area and the Awa Awa Rata Reserve (a type of tree), but it quickly turned into pothole heaven and we were driving a small rental sedan, so demurred and drove back down.
Finally, arriving at Rakaia Gorge, we checked out the views, the river jetboat experience groups gathering by the water, the hotel parked on a bluff with the restaurant not yet open, and moved on to Methven.
I sound like I'm being blase about the views, but in a ten day period, there are only so many "big views" you can take in before the brain camera shuts down.
Close up of the exotic flowers here. Big view, close up. Is there an in between?
Methven.
The day before, when we were searching for a room to stay in, we had thought Methven would be ideal. "Oh! No" said the I-site lady. They were having a huge conference on Hay Bale Construction, so the place was slammed with an International range of guests. Well, we just had to see what this was all about.
No pictures of the conference itself, though we were able to look at samples and demonstrations of techniques and types in a parking lot off to the side. I've seen a few things on this type of constuction, and watching the presenters was so much like a trip back in time. It seemed fairly hippy-dippy to me.
This was the best part.
The town of Rakaia was a railroad stop for a lot of agricultural farms. This was an old hotel, now an apartment building for the town.
These photos are of the Rakaia River, a braided river. At ground level, it just seems rocky, shallow and wide.
This is what they are like from the air.
They have a substantial Holiday Park there, where we had reserved a space the night before.
A cabin, a pool (it was 32 degrees celcius that day0 a huge TV room (cause we messed up out tv in our room).
This was a highlight, pink motor home, old trailers. No salt on the roads, these things can last forever.
A great dinner and a documentary about the train ride from Darwin to Adelaide, Australia. We watched it with an Kiwi/Ozzie lineman who had worked all over both countries. He was a real sunburned character, full of stories.
The next day we drove on to Littleton.
Lots of sculpture in such a small town. Their determination to bring his town back up after huge devastation is to be admired.
We took in the town and some of the damage that had occurred there, enjoyed a good coffee while we were at it.
A lot of the rebuilding, as in this cafe, has used parts of what was left and added the new to it all. Very smart in looks and re-use.
The port is a busy one, with lumber and coal seeming to be what was on for that day.
A ferry across to Diamond Harbour and a walk on a long trail along the steep coast. Everything is steep.
A wonderful lunch, watching the sea, in a cafe with an outdoor living wall.
A lot of sculpture in Diamond Harbour itself. Large parks and some historical architecture.
The home of Margaret Stoddart, a painter from the late 1800's. A wonderful watercolour painter, whose work I got to see in the Chistchurch Art Gallery on my return there a few days later. How Lucky.
An exciting ferry ride back as the weather clouded over and the sea kicked up a fuss.
There is a tunnel through a mountain to get into Christchurch. Having felt a few 'tremors' in our stay, we were just a little anxious as we traveled whatever distance it was to come out the other side.
A few more sculptures for you to see.
Our last few days in Christchurch were spent taking in places like the Mona Vale gardens, the museum, walks in Hapley Park and checking out all the high end furniture shops. I also continued my endless and fruitless search for a souvenir of worth.
Mona Vale used to be a private estate. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous. The house had been extensively damaged by the earthquake and was in the process of being repaired.
Lovely pathways, leading to surprises.
The house, the chimney completely down, on its side in the driveway.
The lily pond.
And, of course, the rose garden.
The fernery. I've never heard this used before.
The garden paths and roads took us from one vista to the next.
I kept getting lost in Christchurch. My inner GPS seems to be shot. Cloudy skies seem to throw it right off. The fact of seeing the sun to the north might also be a hindrance, though I think I am getting old and just not as sharp in the "figure out where I am" department.
A few more sculptures for you to see.
We went to see "The Lady in the Van" as a way of killing time before our flight back to Wellington. We walked about halfway to the airport, passing shops with either funny signs, or signs that were really from another era.
Home again, for a week before we both take off for Auckland on the train and the last six days of this six week trip.
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