Edwards Hut

This was a beautiful walk along the Edwards river to a really nice hut. The scenery along the way was really varied- river bed with rivers crossings, and different types of native forest. There was no one else out on the track and we had the whole hut to ourselves. The weather wasn't supposed to be that great but it turned out to be excellent. We even heard Kiwis at night!

Godley Head to Taylor's

 Taylor's Mistake Beach

 It was a sunny autumn Sunday so we decided to go for a walk along one of the walking trails on the east side of Christchurch (about a 25 minute drive from our house).There are loads of trails there, and a secluded little beach with quaint, old  little baches (cottages) on one side and giant modern houses on the other. There are several old military bunkers along the trails that were built to protect Christchurch during WWII.

Queen Charlotte Track

Over Easter weekend I went hiking with a friend in the Queen Charlotte Sound. It really reminds me of the geography near Vancouver island. Very beautiful! The track itself is quite touristy- you can have your luggage dropped off for you by boat from point to point so that all you have to carry is a day pack- and you can stay at a range off accommodation types- from camping for $6 to five star resorts for $600!

 Picton Harbour 

Lots of sail boats and recreational vessels!

 Native bush and typical view into the sound along the track

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.