It is a Maori special day today and a holiday for everyone in NewZealand.

We went to a Heritage Event at Blenheim Museum and in the surrounding parkland area. The museum and heritage museum was free entry for the day. It featured info about the Maoris and the European settlers. Lots of info and exhibitions on wines in this area. Lots more of life in the 1880s with original shops and houses to explore.

It was a smaller version of an agricultural show with a train and a station in operation for today. Vintage farm machinery and cars, steam engines, heritage homes, old ways of farm working with wood. Embroidery exhibitions and the 1940,s army. People were dressed up. It had a nice small town community feel to it. I took quite a few photos. We spent the morning there.0

We had a ride along the Wairau Valley for quite a way. It goes to lake Rotoiti part of the Nelson Lakes. It was full of vineyards for miles. As they have had so little rain the grass was scorched yellow and the poor cows and sheep were scrounging around trying to feed. I felt sorry for them. The vines were irrigated but not the fields.

The weather today is 20 degrees colder than yesterday!! It felt so cold 36*c yesterday 16*c today.

We went to the coast and climbed up and along a path to monkey bay. It wasn’t a spectacular cove but I got my exercise.

Tonight we walked through Pollard Park.

This picture is especially for Alice. It’s the hungry caterpillar and the beautiful butterfly xxxx

Love to you all xxxxx

Yesterday evening as the sun got cooler, we went to Picton. It is the ferry port, ferries going to the North Island to Wellington.

It was nice window shopping when shops are closed. Lots of restaurants and pubs there.

So today it was 28*c already when we left the motel around 10am. We planned to go through Picton to the Queen Charlotte Sound. The inlets all around this land mass area north of Picton are filled with the sea. They appear to be like islands. there is a very windy road that goes along winding up and down the hillsides. We soon reached Picton and our first stop was at Waikawa Bay. It is a huge marina. We continued along the road to a viewing point. Karaka point. As always you have a 10 minute steep walk, this time down to the waters edge.

It is an historic Maori sight and not yet investigated fully. There are mounds and basins created for food storage. This point was a defensive site defending against other marauding tribes coming down the sound. Do you like the wooden Maori pou carving sculpture? I liked the view over the harbour towards Picton.

We went further but it got very steep and windy and we couldn’t see much but steep drops and forest. So we turned round and stopped at a small river campsite and sat in the sun. It was so windy there but a warm wind. I saw this pukeko.

In Picton a cruise ship was in and a craft market was there to attract their custom. The fair was an interesting assortment and you had to admire some initiatives by the locals to gain money from the visitors, i.e. the prices were very steep!

We sat outside a cafe,people watching in the sunshine and ate a lamb burger with jellied beetroot shredded carrot lettuce and mayonnaise and raw onion rings in a bap held together with a long cocktail stick. It was yummy but difficult to eat daintily!

Oh and we called in at the chocolate factory nearby to our hotel. We ate the free samples along with the coach party that had just arrived aren’t we cheeky! We decided not to buy the chocolate and left hee hee!

So hot so as yesterday we came back to the motel and I had a swim to cool down, grandad went for a nap! It was 36*c

We are off to Whites Bay in a minute.

This is especially for lily love from Grandma  xxx

Love to Anona and Lily, Louis and Alice, Otis and Xavi xxxx

 

It is hot in the 30s*c with a strong gusty wind. It’s like walking with a hairdryer around me!

We went along to  White Bay today. The bay is called after a black American who jumped ship from a whaling ship and joined the local Maori tribe. He was well thought of and was named White Jack Black by the Europeans and Mr White by the missionaries.The Bay was named after him.

We travelled past acres of vines and fruit trees. The road was ok but a few hairpin bends. The first town on the plain was Rarangi. We stopped at the coast to view. We could see a sea stack at the end of this Bay.

Up over the hillside we got a good view of the vineyards.

White Bay was nestled in the wooded hills surrounding. There were showers and changing rooms and toilets and a camp site too. We parked in the car park and wandered to the beach. Here at this spot was sited the first telegraph cable in 1860.

There was a cave and a stack nearby. I’m sure we will come and spend more time here.

It is too hot for me today.

We went to Blenheim and enjoyed the air conditioning in the shops. The town is tidy and well designed. There is a war memorial clock tower in the park close to the shopping area and it is built of different layers of stone from the area. Also the huge trees are all different kinds and native to NZ. I especially liked the pink oak tree.

There is another bell tower/ clock in the centre of Town

We found a brilliant park full of Summer flowers a stream and trees. It was shady and cool in the shade there.

Back at motel and ate a magnum classic and bought some salad items for our tea tonight

Hope Louis Alice and Matthew are feeling better today.

Xavi was very ill for 2 weeks with a nasty tummy gastro type bug. He and Otis are well and enjoyed the snow on Friday .

I love hearing news of you all and now we have reliable Wifi it’s easier to pick it up. Love to Anona and Lily too

Take care and lots of love grandma and grandad xxx

Here are the photos missing from yesterday. The wifi cut out before they downloaded

We are now in vineyard country near Blenheim. The drive here was good. We have left the mountains and now have hills and coastline and towns to explore.

A couple of photos from Havelock and Picton as we passed by on the way here. We did a 10 minute steep walk up a hillside to the view over Havelock and so got my exercise for the day🏃‍♀️

The good news is we have a reliable and fast wifi connection here. It is very hot and blue sky with no clouds, hope it lasts. Dad bought a nice bottle of red wine so we are set up for the evening. We have a swimming pool to use too 😀

Today after a huge breakfast of wait for it ….

Muesli yoghurt and blue juice with fresh orange juice, followed by curry pie and a half of cheese and ham pie with shredded carrots soft boiled egg pineapple salad cucumber mushrooms and tomatoes corn on the cob and coffee. It filled us up all day!

We went through Collingwood to the Puponga turn off at Cape Farewell. We explored the Kahurangi National Park. As earlier on in the week, we parked the car along a gravel road and walked on the paths for half an hour through farmland and sand dunes.

We saw amazing scenery! Rivers feeding into the ocean, many caves, arches, stacks, surf beach and also the addition of seabirds and seals. We arrived just as the tide was turning and through low tide. It gradually revealed the caves. We had the time of our lives and walked for miles.

Lastly, at the visitor centre there is a viewing point 360* of the whole area. We literally dragged ourselves up the steep hill as we were so tired and aching

Fish and chips tasted very good at Collingwood as we left!

So we move on tomorrow over that very mountainous mountain on to Blenheim area

I’ll let my photos speak for me to show you the beauty we saw today xxx

We have hot sunshine and you had snow 😏

We left the farm went through Pohara and followed the road to Wainui Bay. This is where we took all the photos yesterday.

The gravel road leads to a car park for the walk to Wainui Falls. We were now in Abel Tasman National Park. It is totally unspoilt rainforest. We followed a long path by the river. It started off fairly gently and gets higher gently. After a long while the path is now quite high up and a long drop to the river. Then the upper river bed is level to the footpath. We crossed a wire suspended bridge (like a rope bridge in Indiana Jones) it swings as you walk over it. Climbed up wooden steps and then along the high part of the river we could hear the waterfall. It was quite impressive and as there is a drought at present in this area it makes me wonder what it looks like in full flow.

It is a sacred spot for the Maori and you are not supposed to eat food there!

On return we found there was a cafe area in the grounds of the large house by the car park. We had a Turkish bread toastie

With lashing of cheese and tomato and ham. It was huge and we should have shared one if we had known. It was so lovely there sitting under giant trees called Tasmanian black wood in the sunshine. The lady told us all about the life cycle of the large clicking noisy insects and their discarded shells on the trees.

So our exercise done for the morning! We met an oldish man and wife who said they had just travelled the other way along gravel tracks to Totaranui Beach. They were very excited about it and encouraged us to go. We were pleased we did. It was a gravel road 10 km and took 30 mins to get there going carefully as the road wound up over the mountain and down.

All this is in Abel Tasman National Park. Well the Bay was beautiful with deep blue and turquoise sea, and really orangey sand.

We walked all along it and sat taking in the view. You can travel there by sea taxi too we found out.

Returning along the gravel road didn’t seem too bad as we knew what to expect this time.

It was quite windy by now and the tide was right out so I had a paddle not a swim as planned.while Grandad went to sleep on the sand.

It looks like it may rain tonight. We explored a bit of Rene and Marianne’s farm. Their cows, alpacas and fruit trees. They have a lemon bush full of big lemons. Lots of grapes coming too. They keep pigs and chickens too. A lovely life but a big commitment isn’t it with a b&b and Marianne has an online shop.

So after another amazing breakfast cooked by Renee we went to Waikoropupu Springs.

The water in the pools was so clear and very deep. There was a great volume of water swirling up. The strange thing is the water runs straight out to the close by coast. The water in the Springs is sacred to the maoris And reputed to be one of the purest quality in the world, and they thank you for not touching it. There is a huge water shortage here and the water tables are falling. The farmers are buying water to keep going. We have seen the huge containers of water one per van being taken around the area. The grass on the hillsides is yellow.

We explored gravel tracks in the Whanganui inlet but it was low tide and it was a huge expanse of mud marsh and bog. Not so interesting but many birds there

We called at Pakawau beach. Again a huge expanse of sand and no one there but us. We walked out to the tide line to see the black swans and oyster catchers.

Next idea was to explore the other end of Golden Bay. It is a hidden delight and photographers heaven. Rocks beaches fallen trees long shadows. I hope you like my photos. I went for a paddle the water was warm and shallow. There are thousands of shells here.

We noticed loads of pukeko birds in the fields. Tomorrow we are spending all day in this end of the Bay. There is a waterfall to walk to and a coastal path to explore and definitely going swimming in the warm water.

Sorry to hear you have freezing cold conditions no really I am! I do like to see snow as well.

Very hot again by teatime was 29*c.

It’s strange to think you are just waking up as I’m writing this and we’ll be sleeping through your daytime.

Love from me xxxx

Hot again today.

At breakfast we were given yoghurt muesli fresh fruit juice from their fruit trees. Then a fab plate full of bacon eggs kiwi fruit potato cake shredded carrot (yes for brekkies!) and salad.

Toast and cake. Phew. They said but you are English the English like big breakfasts!

We ate it too!

We went along Golden Bay and stopped at a viewing place. It was a bit misty first thing.

We were going to see the beach with the caves pools and baby seals. The road changes to a dusty track and we followed this to the end where you park up. There is a campsite there and a cafe. We saw peacocks there.

You walk a long way through farmland and onto a huge sand dune. We walked up and down it was strenuous.

On the beach it was misty, that cooled down the temperature and was pleasant to walk in.

The tide was right out, we were told to go at low tide to see the pools and caves where the seals would be.

They were so cute and adorable. 4 babies were playing together in a pool. They are in a shadow so not sure if it is easy to see on my pics.

THEN A DRAMA STARTED

The mother seal appeared and made a terrible noise. One little seal came up to her to be fed.

She kept on calling. The other 3 came to her too. She didn’t like that and pushed them away. They were not her babies. Then a black swan got quite cross defending the area he was in.

The parent seal and the swan had a fight. The parent seal was separated from her baby by the angry swan. The seal got back to her pup and then to our distress pushed one of the other babies down into the water. The swan attacked it so it went back to the big seal who pushed it back again. It was sad to watch. The pup was being hurt by both. It managed to go back to the cave pool again to safety. Another huge seal appeared from the sea behind the swan it must have swum through the arched cave.

We left then but fascinating to watch them. Obviously not a fair world for baby seals!

The walk back up the dunes was tiring. We went to the next town along Collingwood. Again lots of new age /healing cafes a bit weird for us oldies.

It was in the 30*s centigrade and very hot. We stopped on the beach along from Collingwood. Not a soul in sight. I sat on the warm rocks sunbathing. Dad walked out towards the sea and saw the sea birds and pools. Loads of shells. The sand sparkles like it has specks of real gold in it.

Back at the b&b now until it gets cooler. I might write more later…

It has been warm and hot today with a little rain and humidity. We have now lost the cold weather I hope!

I just looked at my yesterday’s blog of Pancake Rocks and had to laugh. The photos wouldn’t upload so I assumed. Now I find all my attempts have uploaded and far too many repeated oops! Blame it on this wifi connection here. I can sort it later.

Today we slowly drove along the Lewis Pass and stopped to admire and take pics where we could.

It is a lovely route to take across the South Island. We didn’t go all the way though! Back along a part of Buller Gorge we hadn’t seen yesterday we stopped at a powerful waterfall Maruia Falls on Larry River.

So hopefully my photos work out today xxxx love to you all

Can you spot grandad?

We are back now and enjoying the hot sunshine. We move on tomorrow further North West to Takaka Valley. This time for 5 nights to see all there is up and around that area. It will be quite isolated I think but lots to discover.

Today we travelled to Westport from Reefton along a deep winding gorge called Buller Gorge.

The landscape was so exciting. Blue and white cliffs, deep rivers joining the main river the Black river that twisted and meandered with great amounts of swirling waters. We passed by coal seams exposed on the side of the road. The railway track also followed the river all the way. We saw many birds of prey, wild goats and pukeko and weka birds.

When we got to Westport it was a long town stretching along the railway line, we stopped for coffee.

Along the coast road it was so misty. It was the cold sea air meeting the hot land. Poor visibility and full of atmosphere. We stopped at Cape Foulwind and a seal colony. You couldn’t see the sea and not much of the lighthouse so I took a pic of dad in front of it!

The seal colony was more visible and the high tide and crashing waves made for great photos and viewing.

We were disappointed by the poor visibility but continued on to the Pancake Rocks.

Neither of us realised what we were about to see, they were so amazing. The limestone rock formations and blowholes were fantastic and with the stormy seas it was a scene never to be forgotten. Layers of limestone and mud formed over millions of years and the noise of the waves forced through the bridges and caves was deafening and spectacular. We were so lucky to see it in stormy conditions as the water pounding under and out through blowholes was brilliant.

Hope my pics show this, I did my best! We had never seen rock formations like this ever before.

It was a long way back retracing our steps but we enjoyed the Buller Gorge from the opposite direction

Chilling out now it’s much sunnier and warmer inland going to watch films on NZ tv.

Going inland tomorrow for the day.