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| 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.
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| The Summit Road with Helen & Ralph looking back into Banks Peninsula |
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| The Clay Cliffs surrounded by Rosehips |
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| The vastness of the Lindis Pass |
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| Jenny & Murray surrounded not only by the Remarkables now! |
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| Out with Jenny seeing the new developments at Jack's Point |
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| Lake Hayes - bit different to the autumn tints |
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| Alexandra - lots of Crab Apple Trees |
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| Perfect Christmas presents 😉 |
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| Riding the Roxburgh Trail |
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| Lovely homes built into the rocks at Alexandra |
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| 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)!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.
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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| 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.
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Bill trying to work out how he is going to get these
old relics on the Bus!
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| The start of the Roxburgh Trail from the other end looking back up the Clutha river. |
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.
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| Pounawea on sunset |
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.
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