Waikuku Beach

The weather has been great lately (and unfortunately it may start to become rainy when we go on our 2 day trip to Murchison on Sunday). But we made it to the beach- Waikuku beach- just 30 minutes from our house but outside of Christchurch. It's a very quiet beach- and very long. We also got wetsuits so the water feels warmer (it's about 14 C right now).

West Coast and Heaphy Track

Nikau Palm forest-the only palm species endemic to NZ

Feeding the eels

NZ Fur Seals

The eels sensed we were there- they showed up and started crawling out of the river!

view from holiday house

Endangered Giant Carniverous Land Snail (Powelliphanta)

This past week we took our Christmas vacation early to beat the rush. We went northwest to Golden Bay and rented a holiday home there for 2 nights and spent a day in the area seeing the sights. The highlights were kayaking and feeding the eels. Some of these eels are 100 years old. One of the first owners of this piece of land used to throw her kitchen scraps into the river (in the 1920's). She saw the eels ate it and she started feeding them on purpose and eventually a group of about 10 of them became quite tame. When New Zealand eels decide it is time for them to breed- their noses grow long and eyes get large and they swim out to sea as far as Tonga- then breed and die and their offspring finds their way back to the freshwater rivers of New Zealand. It is a process that is not understood very well- but it seems pretty amazing.
The purpose of the trip was a four day hike- the Heaphy track- New Zealand's longest Great Walk. The track starts in the beech forest and transitions briefly to an alpine environment, and then to a tropical nikau palm forest along the beach. It was beautiful!
On the way home we stopped to see the pancake rocks and a seal colony.

Nina Hut- & Rangitata

Saturday...
Nina Hut is a 3 hour walk each way to a cute little hut. The walk is through beech forest, and along a nice river. It would have been nice to spend more time along the river. One of tributaries- Boyle river- is great for fly fishing (which is- by the way- Brad's new hobby).
Sunday...
Rangitata river has some crazy sections (there is a rafting company out of there)- but I stuck to the grade 2 section of course. Very blue clour due to the rock flour.

Arnold & Crooked

These are rivers near the north west coast of the south island. This was a trip with the whitewater canoe club. The club is quite impressive- friendly, organized and a lot of support for novice paddlers. These rivers were beautiful and the trips down them were exhilarating. I still have a lot to learn- but so far I am really enjoying this sport. I've been amazed by what even beginners can do- and it is nice to see the scenery from the river (rather than the usual- from land).

Inland Pack Track

This limestone overhang was our campsite- dry even in the rain!

It was Show weekend (a long weekend) and I headed to the west coast with the tramping club. It was amazing! We had someone from the caving club with us- so we went to some amazing caves we would never have known about. One of them had millions of glowworms- far more than the commercial caves I've been to. We also saw wild goats, green eels, and cave wetas (wetas are huge insects endemic to New Zealand).

Hurunui- first attempt

I say first attempt cause it probably won't be the last time I paddle on that river. It was great fun! We did the same leg of river 3 times- first with utter fear, then just a little fear, then no fear at all. So it feels good to conquer your fears. The water wasn't as cold as I thought it would be either- though one of the instructors did give me her bright pink dishwashing gloves which helped a lot! The rapids were intense in some spots (or so they seemed to us beginners). I didn't take these pictures- I didn't even bring my camera- I was too focused on not tipping- but we all still did anyways- several times!

Kayaking the Otukaikino

Whitewater kayaking is extremely popular in New Zealand and there are many rivers here which are perfect for it. I spent much of this weekend paddling on the Otukaikino river as part of a whitewater kayaking course. The Otukaikino is just a small river- but it was good for practicing essentials. Next weekend is the Hurunui River- a big river. It is cold and fast with almost nothing but rapids- should be interesting!

Huntsbury Track

Spring has sprung! It was 25 degrees today. There are some amazing mountain biking/walking tracks in the south part of Christhurch- 360 degree views!

Mt Fyffe

Mount Fyffe is in the Kaikoura Range. There are very nice views all the way up. Unfortunately it was cloudy at the top- but the views were still not bad! It's spring- but oddly we got some snow at the top. But 100 m lower- it was sunny!

Seafest

Seafest is a festival in Kaikoura. There is seafood, wineries, other food stands, and micro breweries, with live music going on in the middle. We were helping out a friend who owns a micro brewery to sell beer. It was fun to be and the serving side of the spectrum for this event and people watch all day. Lots of people dress up in costumes too. (Funny that Kiwis don't celebrate Halloween but get dressed up in costumes for every single festival).

Mount Bruce

View down to Waimakiriri River

Top of Mt Bruce

Mount Bruce is a 1600 m mountain near Arthur's Pass. The views from the top are 360 degrees. It was an interesting day- it went from sunny and warm in the morning to snowing in the afternoon!

Mt Grey Birthday

Last Saturday I hiked up Mt. Grey for my friend Dharshie's birthday celebration. It was a grey day- but good to get out! Two days later I was struck with another New Zealand flu (again!)

Snowboarding in Queenstown

View from the house (Coronet Peak in the background)

Kawarau River

Ice Bar at the top of one of the chairlifts

View down Coronet Peak

Crazy mail boxes- a microwave, a computer, and a keg just to name a few

This weekend I went to Queenstown. We went snowboarding for 2 days at Coronet peak, and spent the 3rd half day wine tasting. We had 3 gorgeous sunny and calm days. We stayed at my friend Chantal's parent's house- what an amazing place!

Welcome Flats

This was one of my favourite hikes of all time. The natural hot pools at Welcome Flats are amazing- they are huge and hot. On a clear night, there is nothing quite like sitting in a hot pool of water surrounded by mountains and stars.
The hut on site is really nice and the walk itself is beautiful. I even spotted 2 of the rare and difficult to find Blue Ducks on the river. I'll be going back for sure!