Fox River

This river is north of Punakaiki and a site with a good deal of history. It was the point where a pack track went up into the hills to go south, before the road went down along the coast. 

If you are inclined you can still walk this track over the top and back down into Punkakaiki. In the 1970’s a commune of ‘hippies’ set up here, in an attempt to live a self sufficient life and the caves by the beach, were used for Rock concerts.

It is here that we spent the weekend parked beside the bridge. Shirley and Rami came out and joined us on Saturday. The boys fished, Shirley had a swim and we explored the immediate area.  We sat on the beach at night and cooked our fish and baked our potatoes. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

On Sunday we walked up the first part of the pack track to the ‘Caves,’ that are much further inland. This walk (90mins each way) took us through the bush alongside the river, across the river on two occasions and then up the cliffs to the caves. It was a spectacular walk and climb, and we more or less had it to ourselves, meeting only two other couples on the way out. We were unable to enter the cave as we had forgotten to take a torch!!! (will need to remember for such activities in future) but it was still worth the effort. The interpretation board gave a good history about the area, and how in the early 1900’s guided tours were taken by the publican at the local hotel, for ₤2/6. It was the publican who had built the track both up and into the caves. Only the upper cave can now be entered as the lower one has had large rock falls, so we weren’t too concerned about not being able to enter the upper one. 

The lack of rainfall in the area was certainly evident even in this normally damp area. The river was very low in places, (just as well as I wouldn’t be confident at crossing it) and some of the bush was showing signs of stress. A light rain was starting to fall as we headed back to the bus though it would need to continue for several days to be beneficial. 

Greymouth

What a fantastic week we had in Greymouth. For those on holiday in the area, the weather was perfect, though it is extremely dry and not so good for those who need moisture for their farms and gardens. 

We spent most of our time camping beside the Grey River at the Cobden Bridge. The council provide a waste dump, fresh water and rubbish bins. It is very close to the town centre and a short walk to our friends, Shirley and Rami’s place.

Camp site close to town centre.

View from the hill above our camp site.

View of the Grey Valley from King Park Track. This track
is behind Shirley and Rami's place in Greymouth.

We did lots of walking, cycling, fishing and had several picnics. The walks ranged from half an hour to up to three hours. The bush is never far away when you are on the Coast and it is so easy to make use of all the tracks that are about.

One walk  we did was the Pororari River track which takes you in a loop from from the Punakaiki River, over the ridge and down along side  the Pororari River and back to the main road. 

Shirley and Stephen thought it would be great to have a swim as the water looked very inviting. Even with the lower than normal river levels the water was still fairly cold. I must say that I was very pleased that a walking bridge has now been erected over the Punakaiki River, as last time we did this walk we had to walk through it. I must have a low threshold to cold as it was so painful.  We finished this three hour walk with a picnic tea.  Shirley loves a picnic and is very good at organising a feast quickly.

Two such picnics in progress, one at the end of the Pororari River track, and the other while watching the 'boys' fishing off the rocks at the 12 Mile. This is where Stephen almost got his snapper.

We did one big bike ride along the start of the new track that takes you from Greymouth down to Hokitika and beyond. We did a good 20km round trip, going just beyond Paroa (close to turn off to Shanty Town.)
Stephen and Rami did lots of fishing - both in the sea and the river. They weren't quite as successful as we had hoped though they still caught a trout, several butterfish and mullet. Stephen had a snapper on the line one evening but it managed to wriggle off. Eating fresh fish is an experience that is hard to beat.

Fishing off the Cobden Beach

The sun setting on Cobden beach.

Fishing for Kahawai in the Grey River.

Trout fishing in the Arnold River.

Fishing off the rocks at the 12 Mile.

Traversing the Alps

Short drives and three nights saw us going from Christchurch to Greymouth.  While we were waiting at West Melton for the traffic flow to quieten we cooked and ate tea: one of the bonuses of travelling with your house on your back!!! We had been hoping to get some fuel for the bus before moving into the mountains ( the bus is not environmentally economical going only 5km per litre of diesel and making it one of our biggest costs) but we couldn't find an open fuel stations by the time we got to Springfield.  Not fazed we camped up for the night in a lovely camping ground in the local Domain. Its only drawback was the proximity to the railway line, and there seemed to be several large coal trains during the night.

Lake Pearson

The destination we had in mind was Lake Pearson as all too often we have driven past this area and looked down on the DOC camping area thinking it would be a good place to camp. And it was. During the day it was a busy spot with lots of campers and vehicles driving in to spend some time, have a picnic or just stretch the legs. It is a very peaceful area with lots of wild life though we can't comment about the fish as Stephen had no luck there.

Avalanche Creek DOC campsite

Arthur's Pass is another place where we have wanted to spend more time so we decided that we would stay in the DOC camping ground at Avalanche Creek, directly opposite the DOC Information Centre.  After spending the afternoon walking some of the day walking track and having a lovely time enjoying the bush and the area in general we realised that staying here was not going to be the smartest move. There were two factors that would have changed our minds, had we only known sooner. As the afternoon wore on we came to realise that the road was getting really busy, and in particular with van loads of youngish people who were loud and obviously drinking. An email from my sister confirmed that the Wild Food Festival in Hokitika and this was the reason for the increased volume of traffic on a Friday afternoon.  Our camping spot was close to the large parking area and toilet/rest area and well into the night we were kept entertained.

Taking a rest beside the Bealey River

The second reason this camp is not a great choice is that it is extremely close to the railway  and tunnel entrance and of course there was even more train traffic than what we heard in Springfield. In all not a good night's sleep was had. (Note to selves to check sleeping hazards more carefully in future!!)
We decided that to avoid the Saturday morning traffic heading to Hokitika we would rise early (not something we are particularly good at doing)  and get over the Pass and down to Jackson's where we could turn on to the less popular route to Greymouth, and go to Iveagh Bay for breakfast. We enjoyed a lovely day in this beautiful spot before heading into Greymouth to catch up in our friends Shirley and Rami.

Picturesque view of Iveagh Bay

Ellerslie Flower Show

The highlight of our visit to Christchurch was our visit to the Ellerslie Flower Show. It has always been on our ‘bucket list’ and so being in CHCH only a day or two before it was on, we made the decision to stay an extra day since we were so close. The entry fee, for those of us on a ‘Scottish’ budget was a little steep but in the end we were very pleased we had gone. Being opening day we got the impression that it isn’t as busy as later in the week. We certainly never encountered any queues and were  able to view all the displays without a crowd in front of us.  



One of the highlights for me was “Our Sustainable School Yard”. The designers were Raumati School (north of Wellington) and it really was a credit to them.  It included fruit and veg gardens, natives for birds and insects, rain water harvesting, composting waste, and recycling paper. At the close of the show, they are gifting it to Wharenui School in Riccarton.  You can follow their progress to Ellerslie on their blog Raumati South School   If you scroll down this page you can see their brief and some of the starting points.

Awarded 'Silver' and The People's Choice , the first ever primary school entry
in the Exhibitor's section.

Water pump, driven by a bicycle power. This water can be
diverted to the roof top garden.

We also loved the emerging designers work, a roof top garden for a young, single bloke or woman, and the many and varied sculptures displayed both in and around the lake in the park.  

"Living Art Rooftop Garden" Supreme award for emerging designers.

The overall 'Supreme' winning design was ‘Revolutionsing Reuse’ which was a contemporary courtyard garden reusing discarded objects. It made particular use of vertical gardening, which seems to be a new gardening trend and used in several of the displays and gardens. 

Note the vertical gardens.

Christchurch

We have decided we are definitely more inclined to rural life  than city living. We did enjoy our time in Christchurch catching up with friends and family but the driving in crowded streets (and the many under construction in this particular city) does little for stress levels. Even leaving the city late afternoon on Wednesday was difficult. We are very aware that we are a long vehicle (9 metres plus the car) and we don’t travel at more than 80kmph. No sooner had we pulled over to let the traffic build up past, another stream at taken its place. In the end we stopped at West Melton, had tea and waited till later in the evening more moving on. 

Parked beside Lake Ellersmere, at Lakeside Domain.

Initially we spent a day out in the Ellersmere area, first at the Lakeside Domain on the southern end of the lagoon before moving to Coes Ford for the night.

 It is hard to believe that this lagoon is in classified as NZ's most polluted lakes  as our views of it showed a very diverse variety of wild life. We found a lovely walk to a ‘hide’ where we could sit and watch their goings on.Once again this was a spot we would never have found unless we were out biking and spotted the sign. It wasn’t obvious, especially if you were travelling in a vehicle.

Coes Ford was  an interesting spot and we shared it with a ‘real’ gypsy bus, ponies, dogs and all. 

Gypsy bus

The side benefits of travelling with ponies.

For the rest of our time we stayed at a NZMCA (Motor Caravan Assoc) camp not far from Templeton.  At this stage it is still very much a bare paddock (and dried off at the moment of course) although it does have water, rubbish and a communal building. Even so, it is a very popular spot and there would have been at least 60 vehicles there, and even more on census night. We stayed on till Wednesday so as to be in a recognised campsite for census night and to attend the Ellerslie Flower Show.

It's in the genes

The vegetable harvest for us.

As we were coming away from Doug’s place on Sunday he took us out to his veg patch and proceeded to give us enough vegetables for a week. Very proud, and rightly so, he showed us his garden. This is his first real attempt at growing vegetables and he certainly has the touch.  Of course it could be that all that growing I have been doing over the years has rubbed off, and he obviously was taking in something along the way.  There are three generations of us now as his Grandad (my dad) also still has a patch that provides them with much of their requirements.

Doug's garden

Grandad's garden

UK garden

Jessica too, in the UK, is a keen gardener and I am sure that she is looking forward to the spring to plant out her raised garden. 

Radishes grown in a tray

Packing up the garden into
the bus.

Not to be out done by all this gardening while in our bus I have a ‘mobile’ garden. It is quite surprising how much you can grow in trays and small troughs. While we are on the road the trays are stored in a locker under the bus, and put out into a suitable spot once our camp site for the day has been chosen. Radishes have done well, as well as the herbs like parsley, basil, mint and chives. I am still experimenting with micro-greens and I am sure that they will do well. The biggest issue with them is that they are in trays which dry out quickly, especially on hot days if left in the sun. Stressing plants does not grow a good crop!!

Courgette fritters

On Tuesday lunch consisted of courgette fritters, pesto and a garden salad, all of which was provided both my travelling garden or Doug’s garden. Not a bad effort. 

On the move again

Freezer Inventory

With Mum making good progress, we decided it was time to move on again so on Thursday afternoon we packed up the bus and headed off.  We felt confident Mum and Dad would be able to manage and probably were ready for some time on their own. Visitors, even the helping sort like ourselves, can be tiring and of course we still won't ever be that far away. One thing I had done was an inventory on the freezer contents and with that alone the food would see them right for meals for several weeks!!! I also added a few more meals  so with a pot of potatoes and some veg they won't go hungry!!! 

Looking over Fraser's wetlands from his lawn.

We went as far as Fraser's place at Montalto (just out of Mayfield.) It was a beautiful afternoon and his wetlands area was just a picture. Later on in the evening we walked around this area as well as the new area he has recently dug out. We are hoping we will be about to help with the new plantings in September. He has 700 plants ordered, courtesy of E-Can and it is good to be able to recognise them all on the list thanks to the work I have done at the Southland Community Nursery.
http://www.southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz/

Cycling around Lake Hood
   

Along the boardwalk with the
restaurant in the background.

Our destination for the weekend was Christchurch , but not
before we had explored Lake Hood, just out of Tinwald and had a night with our friends Juliana and Warwick in Ashburton.  Lake Hood is a man-made aquatic park with housing along the canals.




It was good to get back on the bikes and we rode around the periphery of the entire lake. Juliana and Warwick's covered heated swimming pool was a great way to relax at the end of the day.
Before heading off on Saturday morning Stephen put his mechanical skills to work and helped Warwick put a new brake pipe on his Nissan Safari. He has quite a few jobs we could help out with so hopefully we can get back again soon to help out a bit more.