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.