Day 86 - exploring the South Island part I : through the Molesworth Station to Blenheim

Thanks yet again to Morag and Pete who've loaned us their car for a trip north. Their parting words were to wonder whether we could bring it back any more dirty than the St Helen's dustbowl makes it; they hadn't reckoned with the frequency of cowpats we've encountered today...

The Molesworth Station covers untold areas of sheep and cattle-grazing land, and bridges the gap between Hanmer Springs to the South and the wine regions of Marlborough (including Blenheim) to the North.  The river Acheron runs the length of Molesworth and is your constant companion; the original road was used by the drovers travelling across the region.  

Despite mixed weather which means that the photos don't do justice to the beautiful and varied scenery enroute up to Blenheim (deep ravines and gorges of glacial water, then forbidding craggy outcrops, then fields of broom, then grassland of cattle and sheep. At some points, we had to cross small streams; Duncan perfected his judgment of depth! 

Meanwhile, my job mainly involved gates...

In fact, we came closer to cattle than is usual; arriving at the very first stop, the Historic Acheron Accommodation House, the ranger warned us that some thousand-head of cattle were being mustered and moved along the Acheron Road that morning, so we'd better bide our time rather than meet them on the road! They took a while to arrive (we heard them long before we saw them over the hill) and getting them through the gate was a challenge but, once the first few had decided to give it a go, the rest were pretty much funnelled through under sheer pressure of numbers. The dogs and cowboys rounded up a few rogues and the efforts of the breakaway "Molesworth 6" faction gave us a few laughs before they were brought under control.

A lovely day. Now in Blenheim, planning vineyard trips for tomorrow.

Day 85 - intrepid Christmas tree collection

Refusing to be thwarted in their efforts to find a suitable tree, the boys decided to head out to find one on the St Helen's land.  After an initial foray into the undergrowth, they reported that they'd need to go deeper in; this apparently merited the purchase of two machetes to hack their way in, to find the perfect tree. And then to extract said tree...

So off they headed... (move over Indiana Jones!)

...regrettably wearing large thorn-protection which precluded photos (so they may have gone to the garden centre for all we know!)

The end result though is a tree to be adorned with the baubles which the girls have beautifully painted and glittered.  Pics of that to follow...

Day 84 - Marble Point winery

A few miles outside Hanmer Springs are the vineyards of Marble Point (an excellent home-grown riesling accompanied a spot of lunch) with a view framed as ever by the Amuri Range, splendid in the sunshine,

gorgeously situated overlooking the Waiau river

(complete with jet boat tour zooming by periodically)

Later on in the day, Duncan explored the walking route into HS, including taking off socks and shoes to cross the wee Chatterton river which runs through the St Helen's land (roll on building the bridge for when the girls walk this way to school!)

Sadly, being alone, no pics of his actual intrepid crossing...

though he managed a selfie with his celebratory cool-down Kiwi ice-cream

Day 82 and 83 - domestic life at St Helen's Homestead cottage, H.S.

We've acquired some new pets here recently; the girls' tadpoles have become teeny-tiny froglets (though they've begun to outstay their welcome now that the magical metamorphosis is over and they're just hopping and snapping up the occasional fly... pond-bound shortly, I suspect) and we're babysitting some calves on one of the paddocks (probably another reason that the froglets are out of favour - after all, would you rather cuddle a calf or a Kermit?)

A quiet couple of days though the pace picked up with the imminent return of daddy, aka Pete, from a Dubai trip.  Ginger biscuits were made ...

including one special one at my request to continue the Kiwiana theme 

before we headed out for a celebratory dinner

Nelson Mandela, RIP

Day 81 - a Kiwi cookery lesson

Obviously we've already reminded ourselves how good the local fish and chips is and yesterday the girls had a Kiwi classic biscuit : lolly cake (crushed malt biscuits held together with butter and condensed milk, and studded with coloured sweets rather like the nasty 1970s "shrimps" and "bananas" of our youth), visible when you cut a slice from the rolled log)

But today was just right for mid-afternoon tea in the garden.

So : it was savoury muffins (bacon, cheese and red pepper) followed by lamingtons (sponge encased in chocolate for traditionalists, or raspberry jelly, and rolled in desiccated coconut - usually split in half and served as we would a scone); depending on whom you believe, they were either named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901, or are a Kiwi invention (but, as we'd like to stay in our nice comfy little house, we're staunchly backing the Kiwi version of events)

Next, the incontrovertibly Kiwi hokey pokey* ice cream cornets - vanilla with solid honeycomb-cum-toffee-cum-fudge nuggets.  Finding the HPs obviously require all your concentration. 

And we ended the day with another Kiwi icon : sausage sizzlers with mash and peas (and naturally I had a kiwi fruit for dessert), all accompanied by a large glass of that other Kiwi stalwart : excellent Marlborough sauvignon blanc!

Other iconic Kiwi delicacies that we could've had include colonial goose (apparently leg of lamb trussed up and stuffed to remind the newly arrived settlers of home), pavlova (today was too sticky a day but I've high hopes), chocolate fish (more of which in the run up to Christmas)...

* Though at risk of eviction, I should for completeness say that "hokey pokey" isn't Kiwi at all - believed to be of Cornish (or possibly Italian) derivation ...

Day 80 - Jack's Pass and the hills around Hanmer Springs

Another glorious day (our previous bad influence on the weather has been forgiven!) so we set out on a little excursion into the nearby hills along an old packers' route called Jack's Pass.

Just beautiful...

And that's Hanmer Springs below (though we can't spot M&P's homestead).  

I was just about to tell you to admire the gorgeous yellow broom (cousin of our gorse) but Morag tells me that it's a "noxious weed" in NZ, so maybe not.

Meanwhile, there's an unhealthy absence of Christmas trees for sale in Hanmer - apparently, the done thing is to nip into the forest with a chainsaw (or axe if you don't want to draw attention to yourself) and pick your tree of choice.  

Tomorrow's blog may well be sent from custody at the local police station...

Day 79 - Hanmer Springs'... hot springs

Another lovely day so, waiting until we'd had the best of the sun to spend on the trampoline (get that static !!)

and after a little gardening, we let all the day-trippers go and headed for an early evening at the hot springs.  

The littlies of course begged to go to the colder pools ("where the big girls go") but these big girls and big boy wanted to stick to the steaming waters, thank you very much!

As ever, the hills are never far away.