4WD trips

When our friends Juliana and Warwick (from Ashburton) offered us to join them on a couple of 4WD trips over Labour Weekend we decided it was an opportunity not to turn down.
Saturday was to be into Macetown and Sunday the Nevis Valley.

The Macetown trip was off before we even got started as heavy rain in the days before had the river in flood, and since there are numerous river crossings it was a no go. Macetown is an old gold mining town and the only access these days is either by 4WD, bike or shanks pony!! Stephen and I have both done this trip before so we weren't upset.

So instead we did a trip into Skippers. It would have to be over 30 years since we have been in here and the road is just as narrow as ever.  The road is listed as one of the most dangerous in the world and it is easy to see why.  It starts off the Coronet Peak road and winds 22km  above the Shotover River into what was the settlement of Skippers, yet another gold mining town.  It is hard to imagine how difficult it must have been to have lived in such a remote place over a hundred years ago. The old school has been restored since I last visited and there are lots of photos and information about the history of the area.  The day was rather damp but that added to the atmosphere and also meant that the Bridal Veil waterfall was at its very best.

Link to Dangerous Roads
Information about the Skippers history

Bridal Veil waterfall.

The old Skippers bridge.

The restored school where we sheltered for lunch.

Across the valley from the road. We watched a spectacular rockfall
which shows just how unstable the area can be.

 Link to further information: Nevis Valley 4WD Trip

Sunday was a much bigger day as we had to drive to Garston to get on to the Nevis Road. The day was surprisingly sunny, considering how much rain there had been over night. Once on the Nevis Road the climb is quite steep and it wasn't long till we were nearly on top. Here we found an historic ski hut and this made the perfect spot for morning tea. The views from up on here were fantastic.

The next stage was what the 4WD enthusiasts were waiting for. There were numerous river crossings and the road hadn't fared very well over the winter. It was very rough in places to say the least. We were travelling in three vehicles: a well equipped Landrover,  a Nissan Safari and our wee Daihatsu Terrios. I was somewhat anxious to say the least as we made the first of at least 30 crossings!!! But the Daihatsu took it all in its stride, much to Warwick and Frank's dismay. They would have loved to get out their winches, ropes and shovels to dig or tow us out. 

We followed the road through the valley and into the Nevis Gorge, before travelling out to Nevis and back down to Bannockburn. We had hoped to take the Carricktown road down to Bannockburn but by this stage it was snowing so hard it was making navigation difficult.  We finished off the day with a late lunch at the Kitchen Cafe in Bannockburn.

View from the top looking towards Southland.

A welcome cuppa in the historic ski hut.

    

Frank's Landrover

negotiating 

a stream

crossing.

An historic gold mining site.

The Gorge where we think a hydro power station is planned!! 

Snowing as we head down to Bannockburn.

All in all a great two trips and we are pleased to have been invited along.

Celebrating

During the last ten days we have been working on the bus, mostly with painting and decorating the bedroom where Fraser had built us some wardrobes and cupboards.  So it was out with the paint brushes and the wallpapering kit after clearing out the bed, carpets and curtains. It wasn't an easy job as there were so many nooks and crannies to get into. We can doubly appreciate how much work Fraser put in to getting it looking so good.



We are very pleased with the finished product. Dressing the room was the final action and with the new duvet, carpets back and the curtains cleaned and rehung it is looking great.  I also spent a couple of days in the rest of the bus cleaning all the surfaces and the kitchen cupboards so it has had a good spring clean all round. In the meantime Stephen has done some rewiring, re-plumbing, and tidied up the outside. Even the wheel hubs have had a paint up and it makes such a difference.

So to celebrate Stephen decided to take me out for tea. No - not to a restaurant!!! In the bus where I had to cook it. Actually we had a very nice evening, parked up overlooking the dam. The thyme is in full flower and I just love the scent especially when you walk on it. The evening was calm and Stephen even managed an hour of fishing. No fish this time but he says they were biting.

Note the thyme in full flower.

The next event on the Central Otago calendar is the Thyme Festival which we are looking forward to.

Life in Clyde

It is hard to believe we have been back here in Clyde for 6 weeks, excluding a couple of trips to Invercargill and one to Christchurch for a wedding.

What might we be doing with our time here?? Well there seems to be plenty to keep us busy. We have never spent this length of time here so it has been good to be able to get onto those jobs we have always wanted to get down.  Like painting out the garage, completing the walk in wardrobe, setting up some raised gardens, and developing the outdoor living area.  Stephen is working on a pizza oven and is using the local schist rock as a feature.

The beginnings of the outdoor fire/pizza oven and BBQ.

Alexandra Blossom Festival (end of September)
This is an event we haven't attended for many years so we made the effort to go into Alex to watch the parade and then attend "Saturday in the Park." The float parade is synonymous with the festival. In years gone by the floats were grander and more numerous, though this year lots of organisations had put in a big effort to make their's the best. Each float also hosts one of the hopeful festival princesses and the public get to vote for their favourite.  The floats are punctuated with pipe bands,  entertainers and even a brass band on bikes!  "Saturday in the Park" consisted of lots of stalls selling all manner of things, food stalls, side shows, rides for the children, wood chopping demonstrations, pipe band competitions and a stage with a variety of bands and musicians for entertainment. So something for everyone and there were certainly lots of people making the most of the day.

The winning float.

Saturday is the biggest day of the festival but there are also other events organised. The musical theatre company produce their annual production at this time and Buddy Holly was certainly a treat and one that we were pleased to have attended. The garden tour was another event I also took the opportunity to attend. Ten local gardens were open to visit and it is always nice to be able to view what other people are doing with their space.

One of my favourites. The views across the garden to the river were amazing.

Blossom festival website with further information and more photos.


The spring weather has been great and already we have had to hunt out the shorts and t-shirts on several afternoons. Many a lunch has been eaten outdoors and we can see that we are going to enjoy living and spending time in this climate.  We are looking forward to the garden flourishing and hopefully some fruit on our trees (and hopefully there won't be too many frosts!)