Christmas time

Christmas Eve set the scene for the day to come. No white Christmas here, instead a sizzling day in the thirties. It was perfect for a walk in the shade of the great trees in the Botanical Gardens. No this is not an elephant, just the magestic trunk of this old tree!

Walking along by the River Avon was heavenly - cool and calm. It was hard to imagine the frenzied buying going on in the malls only ten minutes away.

I was theilled to meet up with a family of paradise ducks with adolescent ducklings. I had seen the chicks and adults, but not this inbetween stage. The ducklings still have some down feathers but have shed most of the black and white duckling down and are starting to be more recognisable as Paradise Ducks.

We do a fairly low- key family Christmas, though I must say cooking rosti and pancakes was hot work! All worth it though as we were all set to start serving up

Even at 9.30 in the morning we were desperate for shade, and alcohol was not really so sought after! Great to have Emma, Mark and David there and also Pam.

It was so good to sit down and enjoy the rosti with bacon, mushrooms, egg and tomato and also the buttermilk pancakes with fresh fruit. Not a traditional breakfast, but nonetheless delicious and relatively healthy.

After waiting  till the cooler plate afternoon, we headed to Hagley Park to fly my Secret Santa present, a stunt kite. I haven't flown one for decades, so it was fabulous fun and quite exciting in the blustery northwest winds. David did a fine job of teaching Pam, in the photo below, and me how to fly it.

By late evening on Christmas Day the temperature had started a rapid descent from the day's high of 31 degrees to an unbelievably cool 11 during the night, with a high of 13 on Boxing Day. I started to feel human again and out came the merino tops and raincoats. How good to see the clouds open and soak the parched land.

It was a perfect day to visit Mark and Emma and, of course, my grandkitten Stormy, who had also come to life with the cooler temperatures. What a gorgeous animal he is, though he is somewhat distracting if you want to follow Boxing Day cricket!Personally, I know which I would rather watch.

Whilst the thousands packed into the malls we visited a lesser known, new mall called the Tannery. It was really lovely and reminded me of some of the Cardiff arcades. The prices were , in general extortionate. 

This is a perfect, or imperfect, example. I thought it was some sort of a joke, but they were actually wanting 499 dollars for the masterpiece below. Even with a good iron, I cannot imagine that it would ever be a striking piece of clothing! Call me old- fashioned.

After flying a kite, we were in for another lesson, this time disc golf, using frisbees. David makes it look easy and Pam and I just looked farcical! It was huge fun though and I am sure I will play a lot in the future. 

The next day David and I joined Mark, Emma and her family for lunch at West Melton, where Mark and Emma will marry. Great meal, lovely place. No photos sadly.

So, Christmas is over and New Year around the corner.

This photo of Stormy, as a kitten, just about sums it up. It was great to be with family and friends and to enjoy wonderful food, wine and new sports and now it is time to rest 🙂

Punakaiki to Hanmer

We had a fantastic afternoon, evening and morning in this amazing place. Punakaiki Blowholes are always fantastic, but so is the coastline there, with lots of easy and interesting tracks, like the Truman Track, which weaves through dense bush and forest, with gigantic native trees,  

to this spectacular coast and beach.

Not a place to venture at high tide, but fabulous to walk there when the tide is out.

When the children were young, we would often go over to the rocks in the picture below, which offer a wonderful cave, but you have to be ever mindful of the sea! Nice memories.

How I love this wild, rugged coast, whether clear and sunny or overcast. Somehow the clouds make the atmosphere even more special.

It was  a great walk to view the seal colony at Cape Foulwind ( aptly named due to the smell of the seals I guess) and we saw loads of newborn pups, a bit surprising for so early in summer. Apparently they are six weeks earlier than usual. 

Then we drove up the gorgeous Buller Gorge, with virtually no traffic on the road, so plenty of chance to stop and admore this lovely area.

Not far from Hanmer, our destination, we picked up two very polite, pleasant young Englishmen, who were walking the length of NZ and hitching to Hanmer to take a week off for Christmas. They were very interesting guys, and extremely grateful that they could ride rather than walk the final 30 kms to Hanmer! They will hitch back to the point we picked them up to continue their walk down to Bluff in the far south.

They were also lucky enough to have a few stops on the way for photos. The Lewis Pass, which crosses the South Island from Westport to the East Coast, is a gentle, undulating pass, with wide open areas of golden tussock grass and farmland throughout the valley. It is very pretty and incredibly restful scenery. 

 As you can see, the Christmas traffic has not yet started! As I stood in the centre of the road to take the next photo, I thought that moments like that were pretty unique. Imagine a main road like this at peak time in most developed countries!

The Waiau River flows through the pass, just gently meandering past rocky outcrops. After 50 days of drought it was no wonder that it was far from spectacular as far as the flow of water was concerned!

Arrival in Hanmer is always breathtaking. Last time I stopped at this point was with Dennis in autumn. Now, early summer is just as beautiful but without the autumn gold.

What a marvelous day with so much unforgettably magnificent scenery.

Arthur's Pass and Punakaiki

Before setting off on my next adventure with Pam, I had a lovely visit to The City Centre of Christchurch, where I enjoyed seeing the incredible progress being made everywhere and all the new buildings, and occasionally new, sensational pieces of street art. This gorgeous silvereye and kowhai flowers was absolutely fantastic. How sad it will be when everything has been built and we can no longer see these masterpieces.

Walking back through The Botanical Gardens, i was thrilled to find my paradise duck family again and this time get close enough to photograph the ducklings. So hard to imagine them with their mature feathers.( repeat of earlier photo below this next one).

Pam arrived safely and I very quickly whisked her away on a three- day trip before the Christmas madness well and truly sets in. It was a great decision and we have been incredibly lucky with the weather. Yesterday, it would have been windy and wet through the Pass to the West Coast, but today, it was simply perfect!

First stop was the pretty Lake Coleridge. What fantastic clouds contrasting with such a blue sky.

Then it was time to move on to the breathtakingly beautiful Castle Hill, just opposite the area where Narnia was filmed. It does not matter how often you visit this place, it is always special and there are always different stones to explore.

These fabulous massive hand- or foot-shaped rocks looked all the more impressive with the wispy white clouds above them and above them the bluest sky imagineable!

Look carefully and amongst the stones are dozens of the prettiest daisies casting lovely shadows on the lichen- covered rocks.

We had quite a distance to cover, so could not spend as long as I would have liked in nature's sculpture gallery. I will come back for sure.

Arthur's Pass is less visited by tourists doing a round trip of the South Island. It is a pity really because it is probably the most spectacular of the three passes, though they are all fabulous. I love them all!

The view up towards the still snow- clad mountains was absolutely beautiful. The mountains were named Tiritiri o te Moana by the Maoris, meaning ' the foam- tipped crests of the sea', thinking they reflected the distant sea. Nice! 

The river is the start of the sprawling, braided river, the Waimakariri River,translation is  the cold river.

So, having driven over the Canterbury Plains, through the foothills, past lovely lakes and impressive limestone features, over two spectacular passes, through kilometres of narrow, winding roads weaving their way through the majestic beech forest and down the very steep Otira Gorge with the valley full of red Pohutakawa Trees, the NZ Christmas tree, we arrived at the wild West. Coast. What an incredible country with so much variation in a 3.5 hour drive!

This first view of the West Coast always takes my breath away. Coastline flanked by mountains covered by native trees and bush. It is an unforgettable sight.

Our motel was really quite luxurious and in the most amazing location, tucked in between massive, sheer cliffs and the pounding waves of the sea! We were in one of the cabins on the left of the photo, close enough to have tea at the table overlooking the beach. It was spectacular.

We could not waste time, as we only had one night there undortunately. I was really keen to walk up part of the Pororari River track, probably one of my favourite walks in this area. It is one of the most restful places imagineable, with the peace of the forest broken only by the bird song and the occasional rushing of the rapids along the Pororari. Heaven on earth!

The colours everywhere were so vivid. The lush green forest was interspersed with the fantastic red pohutakawa tree blossoms. I so enjoyed this, as I have not been there at this time of year for decades.

You cannot visit Punakaiki without a visit to the famous and totally awesome Pancake Rocks. They are so incredible that tourists are willing to risk anything for that special shot, or selfie. I loved this sign - very direct, no beating about the bush here in NZ.

And here the view! Absolutely phenomenal, and happily the signs seemed to have worked and we all took photos from the correct side of the barriers!

As the sun sank down over the horizon, just after 9 in the evening, a crowd of us had gathered to gaze in awe at this wonderful sight.

Time to stop and stare, not only out to sea but also along the coast where the wispy pastel pink clouds painted curvy lines in the still blue evening skies. It was so lovely.

That was quite some first day of our short trip. It willl be pretty hard to beat. 🙂

Auckland

I take everything I might have said about Auckland back! My only memories of it were of its busy city centre and high- rise buildings, mainly because we didn't really visit the outskirts and beaches. I am so pleased I didn't miss them completely, as they have totally changed my view of our largest city, with about third of the country's population. Needless to say, I am not a huge fan of the traffic, but with good motorways, it seems to move fairly well and people are patient and do not speed too much.

It was great to stay with Rio , an ex student from about 20 years ago, and his family in West Auckland. He gave me a fantastic overview of the area, starting with a focus on forests - most appropriate as his line of work is forestry! Fortunately, he is involved in the use of planted forest and not native!

Very quickly we were at Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. This was the first spectacular view over this vast area of native forest.I had no idea there was so much forest so close to Auckland.

With its distinctive layers of bush, smaller trees and giants, it is a perfect introduction to New Zealand forests. Sadly, not all have these giant Kauri trees, which can live 500 years and are amongst the tallest on earth. Unfortunately, many Kauri were cut down for boats, houses, etc, but now they are protected and admired.

What majestic giants they are , providing a home to so many plants and animals.

It was an exceptional place to visit, and my first sighting of Kauri trees. Very special.

Although we both prefer being outside cities, we did visit Auckland briefly to enjoy its vibrant harbour area, in particular what was the America' s cup village years ago and wil almost certainly be the venue of the next America's Cup.

They have replicas of the boats used in the Auckland America's Cup. They were much smaller than I had imagined, but nonetheless impressive, and graceful in the water. The icon of Auckland, the Sky Tower, towers above the CBD.

Although it wasovercast, the temperature was perfect to sit outside and enjoy the advertised as 'best fish and chips in New Zealand".At 12 dollars it needed to be good and it was! I think that it is possibly equal first with Akaroa fish and chips. Delicious and super fresh fish.

Then it was time to explore the bays not far from city centre, Mission Bay to be precise. With perfect weather, just the right amount of good weather clouds and warm water, what else could you ask for. The views of Rangitoto Island with its still active volcano were stunning.

The next day we set off northwards, about 60 km out of Auckland to Matekana Farmers' Market. What a lovely setting it is in and there was a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, music, delicious food and tastings and wonderful local produce.

When it got too hot, you could walk along the river and into the cool, shady forest above the water. It was a haven!

Even people's dogs were well looked after and seemed perfectly at ease with the young girls who were evidently enjoying the task of minding all sizes of dog! There were 9 there in total as I went past. Very cute!

Just out of town we drove into a Regional Park and down to Tawharanui open nature reserve, where i was amazed to learn that they have reintroduced two rare birds, the Takahe and one species of Kiwi,  neither of which I saw. Of course, no kiwis during the day anyway, and takahe are shy birds and I am sure there are not many of them there. They were thought to be extinct till the 1940s so they must have made a good comeback!

I did see dozens of pukeko, an extremely successful bird species, surviving against the odds it seems, when so  many other species failed.I guess tge fact that they are not fussy eaters makes survival easier.

 The road down to the reserve was longish and winding, but boy, was it worth it! It was an absolutely fabulous area with long sandy beaches, bespattered with volcanic rocks and with NZ's Christmas trees, pohutakawa, providing a colourful backdrop. It was not too hot thanks to the clouds. When they moved off, it was too hot and it was great to paddle in the shallow waters. Fantastic. Wish I had had my swimming togs with me.

I am not sure what the island in the distance was, but I think it could have been White Island, another very active volcano, one of over 40 in the Auckland region.

It was so lovely to explore the beach.

Here, one of the particularly large Pohutakawas providong some very necessary shade at times.

The flowers are very special and again attract myriads of insects and many native bird species.

It was not just a sandy beach. It seemed to have everything!

I so enjoyed a good paddle up to my knees while Rio and family spent some time together.

I was beginning to get so excited about the upcoming concert in the evening so took my mind off it by exploring some of the most colourful rockpools. 

This was not a lake. As the tide came in, it left very shallow pools of water which created the most beautiful reflections and colours on the beach. It was stunning.

 Hours later I stood impatiently awaiting the Paul McCartney concert at Mount Smart stadium.  28 years ago I was at his last NZ concert, sitting on the grassy embankment. Nice to have comfortable seats this time and right in front of the stage, though right at the back. I was so thrilled to be there to see the popstar I had loved most as a teenager and have always admired. It was a perfect evening, with very pleasant balmy summer temperatures.

What a sensational concert it was! Three full hours of Paul and his very talented band at the end of their World tour which started April 2016. What stamina this 75-year-old music phenomenom has. He still looks gorgeous and I still adore him.. I have to say I spent much of the time with binoculars focussed on him so I could most appreciate the time we had watching and listening to this remarkable man. We had tried to guess what he would sing, and in the three hours he more or less covered everything, from pre Beatles to Wings and to his most recent songs which are just as fantastic as the Oldies. 

It was not just about music. It was often very moving as he talked of John and George, and played a new song he had written for John, with lyrics saying things he had never told him and wished he had, plus a stint on the ukelele George gave him. 

The crowd was great and we sang along with so many of the wellknown Beatles songs. It was a great workout! The encores went on for a further 20 minutes and included two of my favourites, Yesterday and Mull of Kintyre. Watching this maestro singing Yesterday was the most memorable moment for me, remembering when he sang it, 50 years ago, at the Royal Variety show! Mull of Kintyre had special significnce as I had intended to go there this year but only got close! As the concert closed and Paul waved farewell, I felt rather sad knowing pretty well that that was probably the last live concert of his I would see. So many years on from the screaming days at the Beatles' Christmas shows. It was so good to hear the words and lyrics this time!

So, Dad, you were absolutely wrong when I was eleven and infatuated by the Fab Four. You said they were a 3-month phenomenom. How wrong could anyone be. 

I am so grateful to Paul for his energy and enthusiasm to give us such a memorable evening in Auckland, and for the 55 years of music and pleasure. He was a massive part of my youthful years and I am sure he will remain a huge part of my retirement years. That concert was certainly the highlight of a year filled with highlights. I hope I never forget it.