What an incredible country I call home! It was an absolute delight to spend seven weeks on holiday in our own country, exploring new places, catching up with family and friends, seeing cricket games and doing some touristy stuff before our big overseas adventure began.
I had hoped to have a blog up and running so I could begin to write of our adventures as we traveled… instead more than 6 months later a mere summary of some highlights will have to suffice! For Kiwis keen to see more of their backyard or those of you from overseas planning a trip to New Zealand, here are a couple of places worthy of a visit in the South Island.
Naseby
Naseby Swimming Dam
Our family holiday spot for 30+ years, Naseby is only 1.5 hours from my original home town Dunedin and the perfect place for relaxation and family time.
A sleepy little village hidden in the forest, where the cars crawl at snail’s pace, careful of the mountain bikers and holiday-makers meandering to the dairy for ice-cream or to the swimming dam to cool off, Naseby is located in the Maniototo, not far from Ranfurly. Now it boasts only 120 permanent inhabitants so it is hard to imagine that it was once a booming gold mining town with a hospital, courthouse, 3 banks, 2 butchers, 18 stores, 14 hotels and home to 4000 miners. The main evidence of the 1863 gold discovery and subsequent mining efforts in the area is the 108km Mt Ida water race which opened in 1877 to bring in water necessary for mining operations. Biking or walking along some part of the water race is something I have done most days of each holiday in Naseby. This holiday was no exception.
Coalpit Dam
Antony and I had our mountain bikes with us and thoroughly enjoyed riding along the water race and down to Coal-pit Dam. The area is fantastic as the main water race trail is easy and can be enjoyed by the whole family, but there are tracks on either side of it that are varying scales of mountain bike technicality and challenge.
I stuck to the water race and was a little concerned when Antony went venturing off elsewhere, worried that he might end up with broken bones before our overseas adventure began. These concerns are not unfounded- my good friend Lilian came to grief in the Naseby forest and returned to Denmark with an unwanted ‘souvenir’ from NZ- a nice scar on her chin amongst other jaw/teeth issues. I will never forget that moment when she disappeared round a corner, we heard her scream and then silence, she was repeating herself and bleeding when we came to her… mild concussion & nothing some doctors and dentists couldn’t fix in the long run, but no fun at all at the time. Thankfully Antony enjoyed his adventures and returned each time unscathed.
Our stay in Naseby was brief this time, the main purpose was to celebrate my father’s 70th birthday and have a little pre-Christmas, pre-overseas travel time with my side of the family. It was lovely to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family and I was rather sad to have to leave when we did.
The West Coast of the South Island
I just love the drive from the beautiful Wanaka area through the Haast Pass and then up the coast. Sunny skies, the wild coastline, green trees, luscious farmland, flowing rivers… it is beautiful. We arrived in Punakaiki in the evening and enjoyed the pancake rocks and blowholes in the light of the setting sun, long after the crowds of tourists had gone.
We stayed just north of Punakaiki in the coolest little place in the bush, literally. Our room at Te Nikau Retreat was accessed by small paths in the native forest. The windows from our upstairs bedroom looked out onto the treetops. Gorgeous. We moved on the next day, enjoying lunch overlooking Carters Beach, near Cape Foulwind not far from the town of Westport and then a lovely drive in the Buller Gorge before making it to Antony’s mum’s place in Motueka on Christmas Eve.
West Coast Beach north of Punakaiki
Treetop views at Te Nikau Retreat
Carter’s Beach
Buller River
Top of the South
Kaiteriteri Beach
Motueka is close to some lovely beaches and we enjoyed bike rides, swims and people watching at the popular golden sands beach of Kaiteriteri. This area is also the gateway to the beautiful Abel Tasman national park which can be explored on foot, by boat or by kayak.
Being more than 500 kilometres from the job I resigned from, I didn’t expect to hear ‘Ms White! Ms White’ and see one of my former students come bounding up to me on Kaiteriteri beach. The pre-teen ‘fed up with school, can’t be bothered listening to you’ attitude she’d shown me a few weeks earlier was seemingly forgotten as hugs in bikinis were had. I was keen to swim but slightly distracted by this girl and her cousin as they shrieked in the water and excitedly told me of their plans to make it to the swimming platform where they would kiss a random guy and then swim away. They intended to do the same thing on land and document it on their smart phones. I, with appropriate teacher/ adult sentiment, tried not to be judgemental or put a dampener on their enthusiasm for this plan, but warned them to be careful. The kisses were quick, giggles and OMGs aplenty then off they went, back to get ready to strut their stuff in bikinis at the local catwalk show. Just turned 13 and growing up fast!
Antony and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a bike ride, along the Great Taste Trail from Nelson to Motueka, together with Antony’s sister, back visiting NZ from her home in Japan. It was a lovely day and the 61km not too taxing, although there were certainly some flatter more direct routes than those we took on the trail.
Marriages Rd. on our Wedding Anniversary 🙂
Melanie looking at the Gateway Sculpture with Estuary Seabirds, Ruby Bay
The Motueka end of the Great Taste Trail
We did a family trip to the beautiful Te Waikoropupu Springs, a taonga and wahi tapu (significant place) for Maori, known by most as Pupu Springs. After familiarising ourselves with the information on the beautiful and interesting display boards at the entrance, we walked the circuit (approximately 1km) through bush and then beside the water. It is forbidden to touch the water, swim or fish in it or drink it. Gazing into it’s clarity was special enough though- just beautiful. The water here is the clearest fresh water in the world and is New Zealand’s largest spring, discharging 14,000 L of water a second.
Te Waikoropupu Springs
Our niece and nephew did very well on a rather long walk for little legs to the nearby Pupu hydro scheme. Nice to follow a water race- in canals along the contours of the hillside and over aqueducts, and enjoy the shelter of the bush on a sunny day.
Hideki enjoying the Pupu Hydro Walk