Barbara's retirement year: Hanmer and the wild West Coast

One thing I found very hard to do during our entire trip was to leave the beautiful places we had been staying! Luckily, it did not take very long for the spectacular new scenery, people and places to kick in.

Arrival in Hanmer is always impressive as one stops to look down at the beautiful Waiau River. There are photos of this river when I visited with Peter on one of the February blogs, but this time autumn had come and this was our first, but certainly not last, taste of gold.

What lovely lighting to arrive to! Hanmer has really taken off in a very small but well managed way. The hot pools there are just heavenly, particularly due to the incredible views of the surrounding forest-clad mountains and the unbelievably clear skies. We were spoilt by the exceptional night skies in most of the places we visited, with the billions of stars, the clear Milky Way and the occasional shooting star. So few people around, so virtually no pollution!

It was fantastic to have a cottage at a campground just outside the village of Hanmer, nestled in amongst the trees. What lovely memories I have of that place because we used to camp there frequently with the kids. Our little cottage was so well equipped and very cosy.

The Lindis Pass, linking Hanmer to the West Coast is a very easy pass but also spectacularly beautiful. Of course it goes without saying that the road is a winding road with lots of ups and downs and this time, due to closure of State Highway 1 north of Kaikoura, it was a bit busier than usual until the junction of roads to the north and to the west. The scenery quickly changed from wide river valleys with lots of golden tussock to dramatic river gorges, the most impressive being the overhang at Buller Gorge.

Suddenly we were heading towards the rain forest of the west, and a touch of moisture, only to be expected where there is rain forest!! We were pretty lucky though because we had probably only one hour of rain to contend with on our entire trip!! We were also incredibly fortunate to be at the gorge quite early in the afternoon, just 2 hours before a big crash there which caused multiple injuries and closed the road for 6 hours.

It was fantastic to visit the seal colony at Cape Foulwind near Westport once again. This breeding colony of seals is always a delight to view, especially in April when there are masses of seal pups playing in the rock pools, practising their fighting skills, suckling from their mothers and frolicking in the sometimes pretty rough waves which pound against the rocks there.

We had a very rainy end to the trip with a downpour lasting about 30 minutes just as we wanted to unpack at our lovely home, Paua Palace, belonging to Tine a friend and teacher colleague of mine in Zuoz. What a gorgeous, quirky place this is, and what a setting!!Here the view from just outside the house (the next morning!!!).

We were really so lucky with the weather. It was hard to believe that after the previous night's storm we would wake to this cloudless blue sky, and as a result NO pesky sandflies at all!! They do not appear to like fine weather, which was fortunate for us!!

Punakaiki, along with Kaikoura and Wanaka, is a favourite of mine. I could happily spend many days or weeks there. It has a magic and charm which are simply indescribable.

It is not difficult to appreciate how rugged and how breathtakingly beautiful and wild this place is. In the other direction, looking back towards Punakaiki, it is really special too, and best of all, we were able to enjoy it completely alone!

Dear old Ken, my car (registration Ken911), looked quite lonely there! I have to say it was more fun driving around all the bends in the daylight than the previous evening in the dark and rain.

Next stop another old favourite of mine, Truman's Track. We so enjoyed the magnificent walk through rain forest ( glowworms at night) to one of the most gorgeous beaches I know.

How stunning it looked in the early morning light, as the tide began to creep in. You have to take care there because it is fun to walk across the beach to the cliffs

but you always have to watch out !!

The waves can be truly massive, even on the calmest day!

No visit to Punakaiki, in my mind, is complete without a walk up the magnificent Pororari Gorge. It is heaven on Earth and fortunately not visited by too many tourists,. This place is truly special and gives you such an incredible feeling of remoteness. Here the fresh air, the lush vegetation,

the sound of the water on the rapids and the dulcet songs of the bellbirds in the trees, all add up to the perfect experience.

Not to mention the wonderful smaller things you can find if you look around you carefully

Oh, how I wish I had a great camera at times!! What a magical place.

Of course, the biggest tourist attraction at Punakaiki is this:-

Pancake Rocks. An absolutely fascinating place with the most stunning views. Whether you see it by day or by night, it is bound to impress. For me, the rocks at sunset say it all!