Paul gave
his final exam at Uni and finished marking all 188 tests, so we were able to go
on holiday for a few days. We flew north
to Nelson, rented a car and drove to the Golden Bay area on the top of the
South Island.
Our first
destination was Te Hapu, a sheep and cattle ranch where we had reserved one of
three cottages. To get there we drove
the last 35 km on gravel road and on several long causeways across sea
inlets.
We were rewarded with a quiet
place, beautiful scenery and private beach.
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The Sheep Shearers' Retreat - our cottage at Te Hapu |
We shared the 1000 acres with two other couples who we rarely saw, 10
sheep dogs, and lots of sheep and cows.
We saw more of the sheep and cows than the people.
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Rock shelf near the beach - great exploring at low tide |
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Paua (abalone) shells from the top |
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and from the inside |
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The Maze at Te Hapu |
We left Te Hapu
and drove to our next two night stay at the Innlet, where we know the owners,
Jonathan and Katie. Jonathan described
the area as being out in the “wop wops,” another great kiwi slang word for
being out in the boonies. We held onto
our hats and visited wind swept Wharariki Beach.
The next day
we hiked on Farewell Spit for 4 hours.
One side is on the Tasman Sea, and the other is Golden Bay, and they are
quite different from each other.
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The Golden Bay (calmer) side of Farewell Spit |
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Cindy on the sandy track crossing Farewell Spit |
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Tasman Sea side of Farewell Spit |
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Bar-tailed godwits on the outer side of Farewell Spit |
Our final day was in Nelson, where we attended the opening night of a Steampunk
Christmas Carol performed by the local repertory theatre group. Great fun!
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The backdrop for A Christmas Carol - Steampunk Style |
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Audience members dressed up in steampunk style too |
We also stopped at the Nelson Provincial Museum to see an exhibit titled "A Century Of Saying Cheese", about the history of portrait photography.
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Negative image of Paul and Cindy |
Earlier last
week, many cities in New Zealand honored war dead with ceremonies and the
placing of wooden crosses. New Zealand
lost over 18200 lives in World War I, which at the time was 10% of the
population.
We now are
back in Christchurch. We visited an exhibit at the Christchurch Art
Gallery where anyone can paint the wall.
Each night the wall is painted white again during the two week exhibit.
Last night we
said goodbye to the Farandol Folk Dancers. It's been fun learning some new dances from them and teaching them some of the dances we do in Eau Claire.
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The Farandol Folk Dancing group |
Today we stopped
at Willowbank Nature Reserve where Cindy has been volunteering. We got a behind the scene visit to see Fawkes,
a kiwi chick born last week while we were gone.
We also saw a wood pigeon (keruru) sitting on its nest, and a white-faced heron.
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Fawkes, the newest Brown Kiwi chick at Willowbank |
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A kereru (New Zealand or wood pigeon) |
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White-faced heron |
We leave
warm Christchurch to fly home to wintry Wisconsin today. Thank you
for following our blog this year – it’s been fun sharing our adventures.
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