One day our drive was to take us 3 hours so we added a few minutes to side journey down to this river flowing out of the Southern Alps. Fabulous color and a nice steep hike to boot.
A view of the bridge we had to drive over to start our hike. This bridge was like many here in New Zealand, one lane. Folks around here are used to it so no big deal. So few cars around that in the 2 months we were there we only had to wait twice for oncoming traffic to clear the bridge. One side is designated to have the right of way with signage clearly marking that. Some of the bridges did have a pull out spot in the middle in case people became mindless of their situation.
The stump of this old tree provided a nice photo op as well as a respite from the intense sun.
The other side of the dead tree. Rock art or graffiti? The markings were actually made in hard dirt so an irrelevant question but we have learned recently that as long as the markings are over 50 years old, it is called historical rock art.
Check out the demarcation line between the cold water on the right and the sandy beach to the left. Beautiful backdrop here as well.
Our next detour on our drive was to the coast and “Dashing Rocks”.
The rocks indeed were being dashed by the waves. This one just happened to get me a wee bit wet. Laurie missed that moment by just a second.
Not sure what a slumpage is but not even the spell check likes the name. I guess the picture on the placard is worth exactly 5 words.
We have passed by many rugby pitches, cricket fields and football (soccer) fields but had to stop and take a picture of our first lawn bowling center. Looked like a cross between bowling and curling?
Strangely enough, on that day we also walked by our first croquet pitch. The sign out front said “if you are watching, come in and give it a try”. Sure enough an elder gentleman came over and asked us if we wanted to play. We begged off for some reason or another but, as usual in NZ, we did have a good 10 minute conversation about this or that. Nice fellow.
Our Airbnb host said we should visit the Valley of the Moa. A moa is an extinct flightless bird akin to an emu or ostrich. When the Maori people canoed over to New Zealand from Polynesia about 600 years ago they hunted them to extinction here in this valley. Love the stipulation that there are to be no visitors during lambing and calving season.
A picturesque valley to hike through with cool limestone cliffs on each side.
A view of some of these cliffs. We saw what we thought were bats flying in and out of the caves along the cliff walls. Thought bats came out at night?
We saw a small sign that said “Maori Art” with an arrow up a grassy hill. When we got there we found some dark smudges on the wall that was fenced of with chain link. Not as impressive as the rock art at Mesa Verde but interesting anyway.
We will wrap up this post with a picture of New Zealand’s largest supermarket chain. Most are named “Countdown” but the company is changing its name to Woolworths. We wonder if it has any connection to the old department store back in the states that has been out of business for quite a while.