Snow Photos- Canterbury

Catch-up

You wouldn't believe I've just had four weeks to catch up on blogs and photos and yet I'm still posting about Canterbury and the snow! 

Mt Hutt

We've been having a few weeks R&R, parked up at the Kaiteriteri Holiday Park in Tasman at the top of the South Island (actually that should be just one R, there's been very little recreation). It's been great to just relax and see out the end of winter, although the weather could have been a little kinder. It has rained often. One day it's fine and sunny, the next it's cold and wet. Back and forth it's swung on a very regular basis, much like winter for many New Zealanders this year I hear. It's been a funny old season all round. 

Mt Hutt Panorama (click to enlarge)

I actually haven't minded the weather too much, I feel guilty if I'm not out there enjoying the sun and exploring if it's shining. So it's fine (no pun intended) if I'm stuck inside on a cold or wet day, I always have plenty to catch up on. It took a good two weeks before I actually felt settled here though, I always have 'itchy feet' to get moving again after a few days, but this time I had to give myself a stern talking to. 

Mt Hutt Station

We've had a lovely time relaxing, meeting new people and catching up with others we've met on the road previously. But now with two pairs of itchy feet, the time has come to pack up and pull out. When you're on the road full-timers, you know it's time to move on when your doormat needs a mow, the ants are taking over the kitchen and the birds line up outside waiting for their breakfast every morning! Where to next? You know the answer to that one. Ask me tomorrow.

Rakaia Gorge

And now after that quick catch-up, back to the photos. I'm going try and do the next few blogs a bit more quickly because I really want to get up-to-date before we start exploring again. I tell you, it's a never ending vicious circle (not that I'm complaining of course!). So I'm planning on less words, more photos....well that's the theory anyway. Lets see how that goes.

I  took myself on a tikitour two days after the snow fall and several downpours of rain...

Before (above) and after the snow- Mt Hutt from Windwhistle at the top of Rakaia Gorge.

From Windwhistle, a fogbow- like a rainbow but with no colour.

The rickety single lane Old Rakaia Gorge Bridge, built 1880-82, crosses one braid of the Rakaia River...

...and this slightly newer New Rakaia Gorge Bridge crosses the next braid, just a few metres further on. 

Then the ever curious me decided to return to Mt Somers and head down the Ashburton Lakes road to see what I could see. Well, surely they'd be a lot of snow down there, right? The roads had been graded, there was a lot of mud and slush (and stinky cow poop mixed in too), a vision of David having to clean the ute flashed past my eyes...just for a second though. I kept on driving.

You have to watch out for flocks of birds on the road when the snow covers their usual food source- finches, sparrows, magpies & blackbirds are looking for bugs and things on the only clear area which happens to be the road you're travelling on at 80-90kph. You can see some on the road above, they leave it until the last moment to lift off too. 

Mt Barrosa and an old farm house.

More farm stations up a side road.

No. 8 wire kiwi ingenuity at it's best. We so need this on the van for rain fade!

And look at the historic Hakatere Farm buildings, looking picture perfect covered in snow and looking very different to the other day.

Uh-oh! The road has only been graded to Hakatere, the gravel road to Lake Clearwater is covered in snow. Hey, but there are tyre tracks....

But I'm not too sure I should drive it. I'm in 4WD. I have Diff-lock. I should be ok. Yeah, I'm sure I'll be ok. Do I? Don't I? I am sooo tempted but it looks very slippery and there's no phone reception if I get stuck. And how's David going to get here to rescue me anyway? Darn! I turn around and head back down the road....I so wanted to go up there. 

As I head back to Methven I see a fogbow again...I wonder if it's the same one, I'm about 40kms down the road. This time I shoot it with my wide angle lens so I can get all of it in.

And one last photo before I get home; North Branch Ashburton River/Hakatere near Pudding Hill.

Let it Snow- Methven, Canterbury

Catch-up (mid-July)

A major snowstorm had been forecast a couple of days after our arrival at the Methven Camping Ground, it was one of the reasons I was keen to stay in the high country. I say there's no point in spending winter in the south if you don't get to experience a snowfall or two, right? We waited in anticipation for the first signs of snow, checking the weather apps and local weather Facebook pages regularly. Well I'd waited in anticipation, David waited in trepidation. 

And then finally around 5pm and right on cue, after one very cold afternoon, the snow arrived. Silently and softly it began to settle...

A steady fall gradually coating all in sight...

Then falling faster as the wind picked up...

...and night fell.

Then down it came much heavier and with lots of big snowflakes.

I wasn't the only mad one out enjoying the snow, other campers were gathered in groups or running about, laughing and chasing each other with snowballs. For some it would have been their first time in snow. It was cold and damp and it was getting dark but there was no way I was going to miss out either! I don't think it's just me who gets a thrill from snowfall, and no matter how many times I experience it, it's still a wonder.

In the end the snow just got too heavy to take decent photos. My camera is shower proof but the snowflakes kept getting blown in and settling on my lens, even with the lens hood protecting it. I took this one from the van door- my assistant wasn't too keen on following me around with an umbrella to keep the snow off my camera so I left it behind...

...and took a few with my phone; I was rather pleased with the unintentional slo-mo effect here. 

It snowed on and off overnight, the soft splatter of snow on the roof lulling me to sleep more than a few times. 

I was up early the next morning to take some photos before the snow was disturbed. I was a little disappointed to see that not as much as had been predicted, had fallen overnight. And also that others had been before me!

The campground has quite a number of cabins, they're named after South Island ski fields which I thought was rather cool.

I came across the Russell family having a hot drink beside their bus; they were on holiday from their home in the Coromandel, visiting the South Island to experience winter and snow and were thrilled that it had snowed overnight.

This snowman was made as a surprise for one of the boys in the motorhome who was celebrating his birthday. 

Only in New Zealand- where do old jet skis end up? 

Riding invisible waves in children's imaginations...

I left the camp behind... 

...and headed down to the village to take some more photos; the Blue Hotel, now looking more in keeping with its alpine village location...

...and the Brown Hotel, behind a similar coloured, slush covered main street.

Methven- famous in New Zealand. TV One's Breakfast programme was broadcasting from the village. After all the media hype around the advancing snowstorm, I think viewers would have been a little disappointed with the (snow) coverage.

Out and about around Methven- as you can see the weather hadn't quite finished with us, black storm clouds were heading our way from the south.

Living up to her name- Our Lady of the Snows, Catholic Church.

Mt Hutt and the surrounding farmland had a good covering of snow...

And here's Mt Hutt, taken from the same road just 24hrs earlier...

I headed home as the weather closed back in. The camp kids were still enjoying the snow; having snow ball fights and making tracks as they rolled great bales of snow about.

By mid morning the snow had started to fall again. Snow bales lay abandoned where they fell (and continued to provide an obstacle course for vehicles coming and going over the next few days).

The snow got heavier and the temperature dropped sharply

Campers hurried home from the village...looking at me sideways as I took shelter in the nearby car shed while taking photos.

A winter whiteout adventure...

It snowed on and off  for the rest of the afternoon and some of the night and then the rain arrived, turning the snow into slush and washing much of the campground snow away.