Day 93 - a Sunday in Punakaiki

Punakaiki is a small community south of Westport, on the edge of the Paparoa NP.  As well as having a lovely beach (yes, that's the sunset view from the verandah of our rented bach), 

its biggest tourist draw and claim to fame is the Pancake Rocks, 

a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts through several vertical blowholes during high tides 

(sometimes with rainbows). 

There's a walkway past the 'pancake'-layering limestone (created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments)  

and, along the beach are sands and outcrops

Hope you're into the pre-Christmas swing ...

"On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Three cows a-cuddling,

Two pavs a-cooking,

And a kiwi in a fern tree"

Day 92 - Westport to Punakaiki for the weekend : exploring ... part VII

On Saturday morning, we were due to drive down the coast to Punakaiki - to meet Morag and Pete, who'd rented a place for us for Saturday and Sunday nights. 

Our B&B not having any wifi, we stopped off on the high street at the Westport library to check in on M&P's expected time of arrival in Puna (three cheers to the NZ taxpayer by the way as the libraries have been uniformly excellent).  We were so engrossed in emailing that we barely noticed all of the activity behind our car.   

Even when Duncan observed a green-bewigged elf and I saw a small fairy walking past, we didn't put two and two together. It was only when a police-car parked behind us and a team of kilted bag-pipers amassed nearby that we twigged that something was up... And we were traffic-coned in and not going anywhere!  

Cue the Westport Christmas parade

Lots of sweets were being thrown from the floats, presents given to children - all good fun. Floats, ponies (from the racecourse), cars and motorbikes (from the speedway track), shameless advertising by the local coal industry (who probably sponsored the affair I guess) and Father C on the loo (unclear!!) made for a happy half hour's entertainment.

Once the parade was finished, we finally headed southwards down the coast, stopping off at a cute little bay at Charleston, 

before making it to Punakaiki (of which more tomorrow)

Meanwhile, altogether now...

"On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Two pavs a-cooking,

And a kiwi in a fern tree"

Day 91 - Murchison to Westport : exploring ... part VI (and an alternative Twelve Days TO Christmas...)

Next to the river Buller, not far out of Murchison, is the longest swing-bridge in NZ; 110m long and Lord only knows how high! 

The views to the canyon below were spectacular and we did a shortish walk through the old gold-mining works - a major fault line runs through here and, in the 1929 earthquake, the ground rose by 4.5m which makes for interesting terrain. You can apparently still pan on the river as well -  you can have a go yourself (allegedly a tourist recently found a nugget worth NZ$900, much to the locals' chagrin!)

Then onward to the coast (the mouth of the Buller) at Westport, and Cape Foulwind with a seal colony, a cheeky weka (another flightless native)

and more great views. 

Westport (first settled in 1861) itself has some nice architecture, particularly the municipal buildings (plus NZ's last open-cast mining!). 

We've also been looking at various towns' cenotaphs - shocking how many suggest that brothers or cousins from a small town were lost in WWI (and even worse if the same name crops up in the WWII list). Westport's is an impressive memorial.

By way of festive cheer, we're going to do a reverse "Twelve Days of Christmas" countdown to 24/12, Kiwi style.

Feel free to sing along...

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 
A kiwi in a fern tree" 

TBC!

Day 90 - southwards to Murchison : exploring ... part V

First thing, the tide had gone out; the beachfront was lovely and peaceful

En route back, we stopped off in Takaka (spot what is wrong with this Christmas high street shot? Yes, it's the blue sky and hanging baskets full of flowers...)

but the scenery was just as lovely on the way back downwards

Including on our detour to Lake Rotoroa in the Nelson Lakes National Parks, though unfortunately we were plagued by sand flies (small flying ninjas without even a mosquito's courtesy of that annoying buzz to let you know it's coming to bite you) so one snatched photo

and then we made our escape.  The other big news of the day is that Duncan braved the barbers - a strawberry ice to help regain his strength after being scalped

While he was being shorn, I wandered in Motueka; on one wall, a mural of the Cape Spit area.  Spot a familiar kiwi?

Day 89 - Motueka via Abel Tasman NP to Farewell Spit :exploring ... part IV

Motueka's raison d'etre is as a hopping-off point for trampers to the Abel Tasman National Park (opened in 1942, 300 years after AT first sighted the NZ coast).

After a fine home-cooked eggs and bacon, we headed north via pretty beachside Kaiteriteri

and through the Park up windy SH60,which tops Takaka Hill, giving great views of the wooded hills and occasionally the coast (and Motueka)

and down at Takaka itself, which is the formal start of the Golden Bay region. 

As we were headed to the far north for the Farewell Spit, we decided to by-pass the local "town", Collingwood, and go out-of-the-way by getting in some supplies and holing up at a very tidy little studio at Puponga (which isn't even on the map! Our Swiss-Belgian host tells us it has 15 permanent inhabitants). So naturally we were fully prepared with the bare essentials : cafetiere, fizz, strawberries, savoury muffin (pepperoni and cheese)...

Cape Farewell, Farewell Spit and the surrounding wee bays are just gorgeous.

Farewell Spit itself is mostly sand dunes, 26km long; all but the very first little bit is visited only by day-trip sand buggy. We were satisfied by clambering up the hill and admiring the view.

Very very lovely.  Added to which : how cool is it that the top of the south island is in fact shaped like a kiwi? 

Day 88 - Havelock to Motueka via Nelson : exploring ... part III

Quick update on the green-lipped mussels.... Yum! With white wine, parsley and garlic for me and coriander, chilli and coconut for D.  Incidentally, apparently these days they're trademarked "greenshell"...

After a peaceful evening (there looks to be no other kind in Havelock - you could've lain down in the middle of the high street at 8pm, coincidentally when the only-open restaurant closed for the night) in pleasant Havelock (named for another Victorian Lord who distinguished himself in India but more interestingly the stomping ground of Ernest Rutherford, whose commemoration is on the high street)

(and talking of distinguishing yourself), this morning we headed west towards Nelson (main thoroughfare of course Trafalgar Street).  Second settlement in NZ (1841), it's now a busy place, administrative capital, with a nice cathedral on the hill, presently hosting a best Christmas tree competition,

and NZ's oldest fully preserved cottages dating from 1863, originally built as homes for local tradesmen.

After picnicking there, we pressed on towards Motueka, stopping at a PYO fruit farm for dessert in the form of a boysenberry ice-cream (made before our eyes by combining the fruit with the ice cream but you can judge what the end product looks like...! Apparently though, it tasted fab)

The last stop before Motueka was cute, artsy-shops-on-the-beachfront little Mapua, a sort of St Ives in NZ

And overnight at Vineyards Cabins in Motueka - very nice but no WiFi...

Day 87 - Blenheim wineries and to Havelock : exploring ... part II

We started the day with a short perambulation about pretty Blenheim (dubbed by early settlers "The Beaver", "Beaver Town" or "Beaverton" because of frequent floods, now seat of the region Council, birthplace of Morag Godfrey-Grant!). The very fine 16.5m stone clocktower (which thankfully stopped tolling the quarter hour after 9pm) dates from 1928, and was built as a memorial to the 419 Marlburians who died in WWI (the fountain, succeeding the bandstand) is a memorial to WWII losses.

After yesterday's mammoth trip, we stayed a little closer to home, but the usual quandary : so many wineries, so little time. Luckily, the three we chose (smaller family-run outfits, Wither Hills and Framingham, and Isabel in homage to Tom) were all very friendly and with excellent offerings.  And all were beautifully by the gently sloping hills

Duly weighed down, we headed north to Picton (hadn't expected to be back here so soon!) to go along the Queen Charlotte Sound 

(named by Captain Cook for George III's wife), nice but I fear we've been spoiled by the views from the ferry!

We're overnighting in tiny Havelock (as seen from the Sound road)

(pop 450, says our B&B lady, but with at least six cafes and several restaurants to service the yachtie crowds who look like they drop in), apparently the green-lipped mussel capital of the world... 

Rest assured we'll be looking into that claim this evening - more tmrw.