Lewis Pass to Nelson Lakes

A road trip day brought us through some beautifull countryside which changed every 5 minutes as we left the Canterbury Plains for the Nelson Region.

The country towns were just so small, that we didn’t even stop in them. We were heading for our Bed and Breakfast Homestay at Wairau Pass 5 min outside of St Arnaud forthe next 2 nights, which is on Lake Rotoiti (meaning small lake) in the Nelson National Park.

More sheep, who have the skills of mountain goats,  although we also saw some small goats too.

The Murchison earthquake of 1929 created the Maruia Falls by triggering a landslide which diverted the course of the Maruia River westwards, forcing it to cut a new channel over an old river bank. The river eroded gravels below the bank, forming the Maruia Falls. Immediately after the earthquake, the falls were only about a metre high, but after a year, the drop was 5 metres. In the early 2000s it was 10 metres, as shown here.


Helen was a fabulous host, breakfast was supurb, and we sat and chatted about local history all evening around her warm fire place, and in particular I helped her do some research with Ancestry.com on a project she was working on for the local history society. It was nice to not be in a hotel/motel.  The down side was that the town was all closed up for winter, struggled to get an evening meal although Helen did offer to cook for us.  We managed to scrounge a delicious couple of Pizzas from the Alpine Resort if ordered by 4pm.  They too were semi closed, and officially closing on the weekend.  They don’t consider ski season at the nearby Rainbow Skifields a tourist drawcard.

Onewa Peninsula - Volcano Cap

We got up extra early, packed up, said our good-byes to the remaining partiers, to catch the low tide at Onewa Peninsula and to step foot on the volcano cap which is at the centre of Banks Peninsula volcano. It was awesome volcanic geology at work, and also a sacred Maori burial site.  

The view to the tip of the Peninsular


I could just picture the hot molten lava bubbling leaving these swirling circles

Derek took this photo with the tide in on his harbour cruise

Akoroa - Party time

We had a fun filled weekend, 60th birthday party at the Bowls Club for Nigel, made some new friends from New Zealand and Brisbane, a scrumptious breakfast (a bit of a change from the daily fruit, yoghurt and granola) a boat trip for the girls, a seperate one for the boys, shopping spree, sit down dinner at Billy Hayes, a lovely drive along the scenic driving routes through the clouds to remote Le Bons Beach and for afternoon snacks as Duvauchelle, and finished the weekend off with fish and chips and some good Kiwi company. The weather was not so good on the last day, but overall our 5 days were splendid, not too cold and we felt we had seen the best Akoroa had to offer.

Boys heading out to the larger boat for their harbour tour.

Shopping

Le Bons Beach

Duvauchelle boat sheds on harbour

Our final walk along Akoroa Harbour looking back towards our motel

Tramping on Stony Bay Peak - 800m

The prominent peak, also the highest peak behind the picture postcard village of Akoroa, is Stony Bay Peak.  It is 800m above sea level. We chose not to drive up to the car park, or access it from the summit tourist drive, we decided to attack it from our motel on the lake.

This is where we are going... 9.00am cold and damp after overnight rain.


We left the bitumen road and headed up a stock route then through farms and sheep fields - French sign

We zig zagged across the front 


And then through an hour of gorse, a pest and prickly bush



Finally the top,  another great lunch view...it was easier than anticipated, we must be getting fitter! 

And of course a cache....a little dangerous, I hung on to Derek’s belt

The hike back down, across the top then down the road, more awesome views.

Akoroa - French or British

Akoroa is on the Banks Peninsula near Chritchurch and is the inside of a volcanic crater. 

 It has a French flavour evident in the street names and French colours decorating the small boutique shops. 

 Long story short, in August 1840 when the British got wind in the Bay of Islands on the North Island of a French ship heading to Akoroa with 67 French passangers to set up a whaling colony, a British navy ship was dispatched to Akoroa and beat the French by 4 days and hoisted the British flag. The French still settled, named the streets, have their own cemetery and have influenced much of the architecture.

The British flag is still flown .......just as a reminder of their sovereignty perhaps!

The French are here to stay, no exiting this cemetry.

We stayed the Akoroa Waterfront Motel and had a lovely 5 night stay, and were joined by friends for a 60th birthday party.

Timaru Time for Lunch

We often remark how green the countryside is, and how the scenery changes every 5 minutes.

Lunch at Caroline Beach Timaru - Derek threw this eager seagull scraps on to the bonnet

Beautiful boardwalk over the dunes

Oamaru Overnight

We wondered why all the motels were back from the beach front....Kiwi Rail had the best realestate in town. No forward thinking evident here.

We had a date night and went out and watched Marvels Infinity Wars.....you can take alcohol into the movie with you!

Oamaru has a very lovely Victorian precinct

Couldn’t help but explore Lookout Point and Cape Wanbrow, needed to get a head start on the daily 10,000 steps.  There were tons of mountain bike tracks to get lost amongst when we didn’t like the direction of the designated walking tracks,  oh and lots of bunnies hopping about.

Some places we had been on the sign




Of course a cache brought us to this abandoned lighthouse on the very tip of the Cape, Derek pointing to how high up it was hidden. A bit of bush bashing to get to it.

We didn’t get to see the Penguins come ashore, but plenty of bird life. The jetty was closed to pedestrians, wonder why!

Narnia - Aslan’s Camp

The location of 2 caches interested us as they had references to the movie Narnia..The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  We had left Queenstown and were heading for the coastal town of Omarau for an overnight stay and couldn’t resist checking out the amazing geographical formations around the town of Duntroon on the way which included a well preserved fossil of a Anatini Whale, was part of the Vanished World Heritage Trail.

Narnia,  Aslan’s Camp - from the movie set.

And also Elephant Rocks

And of course.....where the cache was hidden.