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.
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