Winter in the Catlins

Looking across to where the Pounawea River flows out to sea on sunset.

Although pretty far South, we are still north of Invercargill and being on the East coast rather than the Southern coastline, we have better weather (well so far anyway). We have settled into our base here at Pounawea over the past two weeks, enjoying lovely bush walks, waterfalls and sunsets - I know we are on the East Coast but the sun isn’t up till late,

(getting earlier and earlier I must admit) and neither are we! We’ve been enjoying porridge on these cold mornings along with the cosy fire. We’ve been keeping fit just by getting dressed in the mornings – the amount of clothing that is required to keep warm! But we were prepared so have plenty.

Our winter Base - Sea View Cottage

Parked up so we can keep an eye on the work!

Bill checking out the spikes! (thankfully none were loose)

Looking out from Jack's Blow Hole Walkway

Many of the roads here are sheared 😉

Cannibal Beach back toward Pounawea Inlet

Bill's little job! To replace all the upper boards.

Beautiful reflections at this time of the year

Pounawea is in a sheltered estuary set back from the rugged exposed coastline, so we are quite protected here from the worst of the weather. Although I must say until now, it has been amazing for winter so far south. The lovely fires we have been having (thankfully there is plenty of firewood when the Owners have two farms to get firewood from) and the drier air, compared to up north, has made it quite comfortable. We’ve only had a couple of frosts, but today we are having hail. Mind you there is a bit of snow not too far away.

Bill has been getting on with a couple of projects Annette and Poss suggested to Bill he may like to do while parked up here. The bigger one was to replace boards and barge boards around the back of the house where even birds were getting into through the gaps of deteriorated boards. Poss sorted the scaffolding and then left Bill to it as it suited. As the weather was lovely last week, Bill got on with this job and what a difference it has made. It was an opportunity to increase the insulation into the roof cavity while Bill had it open so Poss picked up the Batts and dropped off for the job. A bit easier space wise than our at home!

While Bill had the scaffolding he also got onto some of the dilapidated spouting which will now add more water to the Tanks, not that I think that is an issue in this part of the world. Annette said they have never ran out of water. And the lush bush around the area would confirm this.

In between the days of working, we have been out and about in the area. Our first week here happened to coincide with my birthday, so we headed out northward and walked Cannibal Bay – named after an early surveyor finding some human bones here, before continuing onto Kaka Beach for lunch at the Point Café (being the only café/hotel in the area) which thankfully has lovely food and wine. After a couple of cosy hours spent there going through their old photograph albums, we headed off to Nugget Point and Light House to walk off some of the meal.

We were last here in this area in March 2008 when we first took Nick to Uni, and Rocky came along as our support to do the Central Otago Rail Trail for the first time with Peter W. After R & P headed back to Nelson, Bill and I took our time to come back up the coast, staying at the camp here in Pounawea. We had bought Bigyella at that stage but hadn’t converted it. Bill had just started the conversion and this was before “the crushed Toe incident!”

So it was quite nice to return 11 years later – very little had changed. A bit more coastal erosion had occurred of course.

We headed out another day southward and walked to a few waterfalls – Matai and  Purakaunui, The Matai Falls are on the Catlins River Branch Railway which is now a lovely walkway – the railway itself opened back in 1915 to service the area between Balclutha and Tahakopa but it closed in 1971, all except the first 4km at Balclutha which now services  the Silver Fern Farms Meat Works. There is a lot of history on the line with billboards offering interesting information. Bill even managed to find a railway spike – not that I’m sure where he thinks he’s putting that once we return home to Nelson!

The cutting for the railway - it wouldn't have been easy through this rock!

After visiting the Purakaunui Falls, we headed down to the Doc camp at Purakaunui Bay which was 6km down a windy gravel road (I’d say track!) as we thought we would check this place out for maybe a future stop over. It’s a lovely beach camp, but you would want to check on the wind before coming in here and setting up, going by the wind sculpted shape of some of the trees. Apparently over Christmas it’s a very popular camping spot. While we were there, there were some rather large (and some small) Sea Lions playing and just chilling on the beach. We were some distance away thankfully as a couple of them were rather large. 

A little job on the kayak to be done before summer

Nugget Point Lighthouse

Purakaunui Falls

Purakaunui Beach & Doc Camp

Some of the Seals playing on the beach

Pounawea Estuary walk

Pounawea itself doesn’t have a lot of roading, so thankfully the camp around the corner has a lovely bush walk through to the estuary out the back, which can give us a 3 or 4km walk  in the area on the days we haven’t been out. We headed that way the other day and came out to the estuary at low tide so thought we’d walk around the coastal edge as far as we could before there was too much water for us to cross. We are very aware of seals in the area as they are quite a common sight, so one is always on the alert for them. And Bill came across one hidden in the bush along the water’s edge – not too worried (the Seal or Bill). But he did look a bit weird with what looked like spot lights on his head that Bill thought was a tracking device. Poor creature.

Along with our outings and Bill doing some jobs on the Crib, he has also had some time to spend on the Bus and Kayak – both had a list of jobs to be done while we are parked up here as we have the room to spread out and no one here to see the mess.

I have continued with computer work for my Christchurch Electrician and finally got our Tax return completed and emailed off to our accountant. So it’s been quite relaxing but also a productive stay. We have another week or so before we move on, maybe north via Dunedin and onto Queenstown by mid-August to mow some lawns!  But nothing definite yet as the weather can change plans at short notice and we would like to get out and do a bit of kayaking here before moving on. So will update in the next Blog post.

Over halfway through Winter - Yippie

In Frost. Pinders Pond - Central Otago

We are just over half way through Winter - yippie!! Certainly have been feeling the cooler temperatures and more frosts down this way. We have now had our diesel heater on many times – most times no problems. But we are still getting an issue when our battery power is marginal. In which case we have had to start the Bus for ten minutes – but the heater does give out a nice dry heat. With a few days of heavy frosts we have ran the heater for a few hours at a time, occasionally running it almost all day! Thankfully it is very economical to run.

The Summit Road with Helen & Ralph looking back
into Banks Peninsula

The Clay Cliffs surrounded by Rosehips

The vastness of the Lindis Pass

Jenny & Murray surrounded not only by the Remarkables now!

Out with Jenny seeing the new developments at Jack's Point

Lake Hayes - bit different to the autumn tints

Alexandra - lots of Crab Apple Trees

Perfect Christmas presents 😉

Riding the Roxburgh Trail

Lovely homes built into the rocks at Alexandra

Near where the jetty is on the trail - not warm enough
to take off either jacket I have on.

The day before we left Christchurch, we had a lovely day out with Helen & Ralph walking along the Summit Road which has beautiful views out over Christchurch and also to Banks Peninsula. The road is no longer open to traffic since the February 2011 earthquake , (I think – there are still a lot of boulders just hanging on!!). but is open to cyclists and pedestrians which makes for a stunning panoramic walk .So we parked up along the road to where the closure starts and walked 5km to the Gondola for a lovely lunch before returning the same route. I would highly recommend this walk to anyone as it has such great vistas right up the east coast toward Kaikoura, south over Canterbury and  Banks Peninsula.
That evening we went to Jazz After Work which Ralph is a member of,so is usually involved in on the Friday night Jazz hour
which exposes various local musicians to others in a lovely friendly environment. Great value at $10 / person. And a nice way to finish up our stay after nearly 5 weeks in Christchurch.
The next day was the Rugby semi-final – Crusaders vs Hurricanes – so we had to park up somewhere we could watch the game – and Timaru Town & Country Club was just ideal. A lovely meal there first and then joined the rest of the club members that were watching it. Any poor Hurricanes supporter would have been well out of their depth in this Crusader supporting region. Both teams put on a great game, so we were pleased we could catch it as well as having time the next day to walk around Timaru before moving on through the Lindis Pass.
We have enjoyed our travels through here before but haven’t had time to stop and walk around the Hydro Dams – Waitakeri / Avimore/ & Benmore Dams. Plus it’s always been summer so it was quite a different setting with the Southern Alps in the background coated in snow. We parked up just out of Omarama in a little Doc Camp with a couple of other hardy campers. The landscape is vast open country, and also has the Alps2O cycle trail running through here. I would imagine it would be pretty hot in the summer but it didn’t look appealing on the frost covered back roads either!
The next morning before we left the area, we visited the Clay Cliffs nearby, which are weathered pillars built up by layers of gravel and silt over the past million odd years. We visited early in the morning to get the best light with the sun hitting the pillars – amazing golden colours. The rosehips added another beautiful colour to the landscape.

We moved onto Jenny & Murray’s at Jack’s Point just out of Queenstown early in the week and had 3 days catching up and discussing when we would meet up again in September with the weather warmed up enough for Bill to give Murray a hand to stain their home. The current stain job only lasted 2 years down in this harsh climate. Also we will come back in August to mow the lawns while their Gardner is overseas (as well as themselves). Well...someone has to do it!! And what a picturesque place to have to stay (not to mention lovely and warm)!

Jenny & I had a chance to get out on their electric bikes and ride 19km around the subdivision seeing the developments that are under way as the area enlarges. A boutique retail area has been started (at present the nearest shops are Frankton). Lovely sections looking out over Lake Wakatipu but facing South – not great at this time of the year. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much sun or blue sky on this visit. Hope we do in August.
We also caught up briefly with Jenny’s sister Judi and friend Allan – who finally arrived at the end of a long day of travel from Rotorua, via Auckland which was disrupted by fog. A very long day for them.
As we headed out of Queenstown we called into Lake Hayes Estate and met up with Sharon, a friend of our English friends Kath & Owen whom they thought may be able to help out as a contact down this way for work or house sitting. Sharon is in a handy location, where we may take up her offer of parking up at a later stage in return for some gardening - she is on a rather large property. Who knows. Will keep in touch Sharon.

Just along the road is Lake Hayes itself where we haven’t had the time to do the 8km walk around before, so as we had the time, this time, we made the most of it. It’s a pretty little lake – picturesque in autumn, perhaps looking a little bare this time of year, and it warmed us up.
We were at the end of another week, and of course the Rugby Final was upon us. Looking at the map for a suitable place to park up once more, this time Alexandra looked the perfect location. The weather looked great (but freezing) for walking and cycling and the Tavern was just across the park for dinner and TV to watch the final. It was quite a quiet evening there so we managed to sit with another couple in very comfy couches and enjoy the game against the Jaguares. A bit sad as they tried so hard, but didn’t have it in them this time round. Watch out NZ next time!

Good catch up with Penny & Roy at Gabriel's Gully

On the Saturday we walked around the quaint town of Alexandra (Founded on the Central Otago Goldrush) and built alongside the Clutha River. We followed the walk along the Manuherikia River and back into town. There are a lot of beautiful homes built on rock, with lovely views out over the river (also not quite so beautiful older ones). On arrival back at our camp site (only one other camper in their caravan) we sat with our books and absorbed the sunshine that we hadn’t seen for over a week. Luckily we did, as we haven’t seen much of it since either!
We woke the next morning to minus 4.5 degrees, heater and water pump not working! Best place to stay was in bed for the first couple of hours, till things started thawing out,  a lovely crisp day followed.

Bill trying to work out how he is going to get these

old relics on the Bus!

We were out on our bikes by 11am and headed off riding the first 12km of the Roxburgh Cycle Trail as far as the trail goes before being able to catch a jet boat to take you further down the river, then picking up the trail to Roxburgh. We decided only to ride there and return, as it turned out we returned earlier than expected so we headed off down the Central Otago Rail Trail to Clyde and back around the other side of the trail. It was a great day cycling ,44km, and a good way to keep warm, for if you stopped you cooled down fast.

The start of the Roxburgh Trail from the other end looking
back up the Clutha river.

The heater was operating well that evening and we filled the kettle and bottles in case everything froze again over night. Thankfully they didn’t.
Next stop Balclutha, to catch up with Annette & Poss, but on the way we stopped and walked an hour at the other end of the Roxburgh trail just out of Roxburgh starting at the dam.. This was the tougher end of the trail. By the time we had a late lunch and got back on the road, the day was getting on and there’s not a light after 5.30 (or before 8am), so we decided to stay the night at Pinders Pond just out of Roxburgh – an old hydraulic elevating sluicing gold pond created in the early 1900’s. Very picturesque but also very frosty! But with the heater running well, it wasn’t a problem.
We continued along the back roads of the Clutha River, very scenic looking across large paddocks of rural Otago as we headed to Balclutha which is at the end of the Clutha river. Annette & Poss have a Crib out on the East Coast in the Catlins at Pounawea, which was where we are heading. So the plan (not really a plan as we are just making this all up as we go….)was to call in and catch up with A&P, before heading out to the coast. However in the meantime we had heard from Penny & Roy from Nelson who were travelling around down here with their caravan for a few weeks over winter and happy to catch up if it was possible. They were heading into Gabriel’s Gully – a place Bill had on his list to visit, as it was only an hour back up into the hills, we decided to catch up for a couple of nights.
Gabriel’s Gully, just out of Lawrence, was New Zealand’s richest gold rush area discovered in 1861. Lawrence was its supporting town, so has a lot of history and relics from that era.

Pounawea on sunset

Gabriel’s Gully is now a scenic reserve, albeit on 50 meters of gold tailings, with walks in the area, also sign boards full of information of the area’s past. It was a good catch up P&R, hopefully will see you on the road elsewhere another time.
We had left the car parked up back at A&P’s, so we called back in there on our way through to the coast and Pounawea. A very loose plan was made a couple of nights earlier as to how Poss and Bill were going to do some maintenance on their crib, also a couple of jobs Bill has to do on our Bus and Kayak. A great place to park up for a couple of weeks – plus…… the big plus…… they have a fire in their Crib so looking forward to some lovely cosy evenings just across the road from the beach.