Middle Matakitaki

This is one of the many beautiful rivers near Murchison!

Sea Kayaking in Sumner

The old school house where we stopped for lunch

Today I went sea kayaking with the whitewater canoe club. We started at Sumner beach and went to the entrance of the Lyttleton harbour. The club doesn't normally do sea kayaking trips- this was the first. The swell was pretty large going out (2 m rolling waves) but it got much smaller a few hours later on the way back. I forgot how much more effort it is than whitewater kayaking!

Kelly Saddle

 After the difficult climb, it's always rewarding to look back and see the river below where you started!

When we woke up in Arthur's Pass it was raining and chilly, but a ten minute drive west past "the divide" took us to sunny and warm weather. The variability in the weather is always surprising! We hiked up to the top of Kelly Saddle in some beautiful native bush. There were some Rata trees in bloom, and looking across the valley you could see a faint line of red all along the same altitude across all the neighbouring mountains. Possibly because the Rata trees at the higher elevation were a bit later to bloom. It's nice to see that possums don't have the upper hand in this area- the Rata trees (and their very similar looking Pohutukawa cousin) tend to be the first thing to disappear from the invasive species (before they start preying on chicks, eggs & adult birds).

Arnold & Boyle Rivers

 Arnold River Confluence

 Boyle River

 Arnold River

Boyle River gorge

This weekend I went kayaking with the kayaking club to the west coast (Arnold River) and Lewis Pass (Boyle River). The water levels were pretty low, but that was ok because it was a little less crazy because of that. The Boyle river has two very beautiful gorges.

Pinchgut Hut

Pinchgut hut is in the Oxford forest just an hour and a half from Christchurch. The walk is along the Okuku river- which is a stunning little river with lots of beautiful green pools to swim in. It was fantastic on such a hot day! 

Surfing at Sumner

Well we finally took our camera surfing- not easy to get pictures when I don't stay standing for too long! It's lots of fun. We are so glad to have the beaches clean and open this year. It was tough times after the earthquake when we couldn't go swimming due to the sewage contamination in the ocean around Christchurch.

Lake Christabel

 View from the top- Lewis tops

Rough Creek

Lake Christabel

Lake Christabel Hut

This was a two day walk up the tops in Lewis Pass, then down to the hut, and out through the valley of the blue grey river. It was a beautiful walk. The lake itself is big for a NZ lake and reminded me a little of home. Saturday was a very beautiful day, but we were a bit concerned about a huge storm front that was supposed to hit on Saturday night. Luckily it didn't even hit until halfway through the walkout on Sunday- but we could see the river rising rapidly as we walked. It was a good thing we chose to go through the valley that day and not take the route over the mountain tops- the wind up there would have made it treacherous!