We were going to go to Golden Bay, and decided the weather was better on the Coast, after a late start we motored down to the NZMCA beach parkup at Westport, preferring to park with a sea view. The Kawatiri River Trail is right there and we partook, very easy peasy. I rode the big uni down the beach, the sand was soft in places making hard work out of it!
The next day we headed down to Greymouth stopping at Truemans Track, which is about 11kms north of Punakaiki, which is always a good spot for photography.
Our favoured park in Greymouth is on the Cobden Wharf, fabulous views and seas to look out on!
The surf was up and a few hardy West Coasters were into it....
The surf club has commissioned this seat to remember the two members
who belonged to that surf club who died in the Pike River Mine Disaster.
who belonged to that surf club who died in the Pike River Mine Disaster.
We checked out the Memorial to the 29 men who died in the Pike River mine disaster.
A very sobering experience with their personal mementos on display.
A very sobering experience with their personal mementos on display.
A quick lazy weekend round trip of 640 kms.
I went on the Easy Rider mountain bike trail, up near Jollies pass, very enjoyable it was too!
Christchurch is still in a state of construction in so many places.
The Square is still very quiet, mainly tourists about.
Such a sad looking end to the iconic Christchurch Cathedral.
I have no idea what an Invercargill tram is doing in Central Christchurch?
I can remember when this building was buzzing with artists studios
and there was an extremely busy cafe to the left of the main door.
Now it's only the Information Centre, which is quite busy!
and there was an extremely busy cafe to the left of the main door.
Now it's only the Information Centre, which is quite busy!
We drove out to Lyttleton and parked at Naval Point, plenty of room out there,
and it's well known by the Juicy and Wicked vans people.
and it's well known by the Juicy and Wicked vans people.
The local Waka ama group had a huge practise session in the late afternoon.
Here we are biking from Allendale along the coast to Governers Bay and had coffees in the She Cafe.
Back in central Christchurch, this is Columbo Street
new buildings everywhere and trendy too!
Bike hire in central Christchurch.
What a really good idea and excellent for tourists.
The city now has many more bike lanes.
The cars and buses are very courteous to bikes.
The city now has many more bike lanes.
The cars and buses are very courteous to bikes.
I visited a friend out at Halswell, in a lovely new house.
Here is his slightly used but in perfect condition saw stool.
What's the problem...it still works!
We parked up at New Brighton's North Beach at the end of Bower Avenue
on the edge of the Bottle Lake Forest Park. Which had lots of mountain bike and walking tracks.
I rode the trails before dawn, in frosty weather wanting to see (and did) the sunrise rise out of the sea, but I got disorientated under the trees and somewhat lost.
A 30 minute ride turned into 2 hours before I got back for breakfast.
I rode the trails before dawn, in frosty weather wanting to see (and did) the sunrise rise out of the sea, but I got disorientated under the trees and somewhat lost.
A 30 minute ride turned into 2 hours before I got back for breakfast.
Below is evidence of the earthquake activity.
Sunday at Lyttleton, we visit the market which was small, rather crafty and arty.
Our gas ran out (for cooking and water heating) on Saturday night, unfortunately the spare bottle was also empty (dagger looks from the wife).
We had quite a job finding a garage that would fill the smaller 3.5 kg gas bottles, finally after several garages who tried to fill the 3.5 kg, their machine wouldn't fill it! Eventually we found a garage in Blenheim Road, who knew that you have to let out the air in the bottle to allow these types of bottles to be refilled.
Christchurch Botanical Gardens still had a lot of colour
and a really nice warm cafe.
I seem to be a tourist attraction, just because of the way I dress
sorry.....I can't help it!
More shots of the city for flavour.
You get the picture?
Must be a message there, I didn't feel like joining them!
The last few blogs have been light on photos to add to the blog because I had a huge clean out, cutting from 12000 down to 5000 photos. Future blogs I intend to keep up to date and therefore will clean up photos to keep my storage of keepers smallish!
It's winter time now, we are prepping the bus with new little upgrades, lots of bike riding and music practice and getting my busking chops and gear up to new levels for our next trips, which will be early next year with a trip to Dunedin, Central, the Catlins and Invercargill areas on our to do list!
Till then, stay warm, dry and safe.
Cheers
Jimu & Christine
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