We're Back in the South Island- Blenheim; Part 1

Real-time

Our first night in the South Island was spent parked beside a vineyard, on the side of a river and all by ourselves. It was good to back.

Damfam Vineyard

But first we had to cross Cook Strait. It rained for much of the night and with a 9am sailing and 13kms to travel from Petone in the morning rush hour, we were pleased when we were ready to leave ahead of schedule. There was a moment of panic though when we found the exit gate at the Workingmen's Club locked. Luckily we were able to squeeze the rig around the sharp corner of the building and exit through the entry gate which was open. In typical Evans style we were first in the queue at the closed gate just before 7am. And first in line to board (although they took the row beside us first).

With a winter storm behind us and another one forecast ahead of us, I had picked a small window of calm weather to cross and thankfully my careful scanning of wind warnings and wave height predictions proved correct and we had a very smooth crossing even though it rained all the way. The mist hung low over the hills as we cruised down Queen Charlotte Sound and when I did venture outside just to check I wasn't missing anything, a pod of dolphins surfaced nearby and rode the wake for a short time! Great timing.

We took the Interislander Lounge Plus option ($45pp) for the second time, which we're finding is a great way to travel. All food & drink is free (we had breakfast, morning tea & lunch), there's a comfy lounge, free wifi and no children. The cost is not much more than we'd spend anyway because we usually purchase breakfast and a coffee.

From Picton we drove the short distance to Damfam Vineyard (CAP #7011) on the banks of  Wairau River near Blenheim. 

We were the only ones staying and it was a lovely peaceful start to our South Island travels. The cooler morning temperatures also reminded us of the cold winter ahead.

 I was also pleased to be back 'Out There' in the open shooting magnificent sunsets again.

We were thrilled to see a bird feeding platform beside the vineyard & not too far from the van. Our hosts feed the local hawks regularly over winter and occasionally during summer to encourage them to stay and scare off the small birds that feed on the grapes during the season. 

Australasian Hawks/Kahu are notoriously shy and are often very hard to get close up photos of. I was able to sneak up on them a couple of times as they were otherwise occupied. They also didn't like eating off the high platform, in the wild it's safer for them to eat on the ground and they can also hide from other birds after their food. Occasionally they'd manage to pull pieces off the carcass and carry it off to the long grass or between the rows of vines to eat.

I followed the Wairau River down to the end of the road where it flows into a huge lagoon and crosses the Wairau Bar into Cloudy Bay. Alongside the track the rusting hull of the TSS Kennedy (1864-1929) provides a good lookout for the local flock of Pied Shags/Kawau. The Kennedy was scuttled to form part of the breakwater for what was once a wharf; rotting piles are now all that's left.

I walked to the end of the breakwater and onto the rocks and was amazed at the amount of water flowing out to sea. I'm not a fan of rushing water and here was no exception. It was very scary watching how fast it was travelling, swirling around in angry pools and catching on the rocks just below me before rushing out over the bar.

Next I went to check out the mouth of the Wairau Diversion which was completed in 1963 to help with Wairau River's flood control. The Diversion carries the water directly across country to the sea whereas the river meanders for several kilometres before it reaches the Bar. There's a large freedom camping site at the Diversion and during the whitebait season the area is full of seasoned campers.

As I was leaving the reserve I spotted alot of activity out in the middle of the river. A large flock of shags; I counted at least 30, were swimming downstream, ducking and diving, chasing & fighting their way very fast towards the outlet. 

They were chasing a school of fish (they look like yellow-eyed mullet) and nearly everytime a shag surfaced it had a large fish in it's bill. And if it didn't it chased its neighbour across the water for his. These are not good photos, I was quite a distance from the birds and they were moving very fast in the flow but look at the photo bottom left, 3 birds with a fish each and one shag behind chasing fast.

Back on the main road at Tuamarina is a memorial and information board in a road side reserve. In 1843 a nortorious & tragic incident occured here. Known as The Wairau Affray or The Wairau Incident it was the first significant armed conflict between Maori & British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Twenty two Europeans (18 killed as utu after surrendering) and four Maori were killed in the conflict. Click on the photo to enlarge if you wish to read about the incident.

Afterwards I crossed the road and drove up to the cemetery on the hill above the memorial to find another memorial to some of those killed (I'm not sure if they are buried here). Be warned if you do visit, it's a tiny narrow road with a couple of  sharp corners & not suitable for anything other than a car. The multi layered cemetery itself must be one of the most well tended and tidy cemeteries I've visited, it also has a stunning outlook over the farmland and vineyards below and out to the coast.

I found another interesting memorial opposite the primary school at the bottom of the hill as I left the cemetery. Beside the memorial were a couple of bench seats where people could sit quietly or perhaps read a book, very fitting considering Eileen Duggan was a poet & writer. It's always interesting finding out where New Zealand's famous sons & daughters have come from. Not that I'd heard of Eileen before seeing the memorial, but then it's fun to learn of their history.

The Tides Run Up The Wairau – Eileen Duggan 

The tides run up the Wairau 

That fights against their flow. 

My heart and it together 

Are running salt and snow. 

For though I cannot love you, 

Yet, heavy, deep, and far, 

Your tide of love comes swinging, 

Too swift for me to bar. 

Some thought of you must linger, 

A salt of pain in me 

For oh what running river 

Can stand against the sea? 

After a pleasant few days at Damfam Vineyard we headed off towards Kaikoura, keen to drive SH1 for the first time since it had reopened after repairs following the devastating November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake. 

We did have to pull over for a photo stop just south of Blenheim though. The last few times we have passed by this historic Cob Cottage it has been surrounded by scaffolding as it was painted (it survived the earthquake undamaged). The cottage was built between 1854 & 1868 for the local Riverlands runholder and has been used as a farm cottage, shearers’ quarters, school, a store room and hay shed during its lifetime.

To be continued...

Molesworth to Marfells

Catch-up

After six nights and a fabulous time at Molesworth's Cob Cottage Camp it was time to head up the Awatere Valley and back out to civilization.

I'd highly recommend a visit to Molesworth Station. If you can see past the gravel road and the continuous clouds of dust, the DOC camps at either end of the Molesworth/Acheron Road make a great base from which to explore the area. And especially if you are over-length (7 metres) and have a separate vehicle to travel in.

We left Molesworth on another stunning blue sky day; finally we seem to have hit the jackpot and managed to have a perfect week of fine sunny weather. 

How is this for love (and a full quota of brownie points earnt)? Not far up the road, David stopped the rig to clean the windscreen for me. Just so I don't get dust spots and splattered bugs in my photos.

It's just a pity he does it BEFORE we round a corner and have to follow this guy for a distance. It takes the grader driver at least a mile before he sees us in the mirror and pulls off the road to let us pass. 

Meanwhile we lament the fact that he is grading the road as we leave and not as we came in over all the corrugations and potholes! Now David has to decide where to drive the rig, the grader has done one side only and pushed great clogs of dirt and debris into a ridge on our side of the road- although along in this photo it's quite smooth.

And now, with all loose gravel and exposed dirt, comes great billowing clouds of dust ten times worse than anything else we've seen on the road. All the dust David washed off in camp is now settling back into every nook and cranny. Thankfully the grader is doing the road in sections and after about ten kilometres we pass his parked ute and can see where he's started. We're then back to corrugations and potholes.

We travel a little faster back up the valley; there's no need to stop as often to take photos. Along the way we pass a local farmer and his mate who obviously likes to see where he's heading...

 ...and several groups of kamikaze sheep, who leap out from the bushes just as we're passing.

We head over Upcot Saddle and wind our way down into the valley below and then up the other side... 

...before pulling over onto a small gravel patch high above the river for lunch. Which is just as well as two vehicles round the corner ahead of us, the only two vehicles that pass us on our way out (click photo to enlarge). 

Far below we spot the farmer spraying weeds- can you see him?

After lunch we carried on through the gorge...

...back across the rock slide that came down in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and blocked the road for several days...

...then we make a quick photo stop at the historic Taylor's Pass Cemetery, which is tucked into a small clearing surrounded by vineyards.

Before we're back onto the main highway and heading south towards the DOC camp at Marfells Beach,  a regular stop of ours before the Kaikoura earthquake, but one we'd not been back to since. It was a strange sight to see these signs along the way (and very little traffic on the road). It's not often that a closed sign appears on New Zealand's main state highway but come next Friday, 13 months later and for the very first time since the 'quake the signs will say 'open' once again as SH1 reopens after major repairs and much hard work by contractors.

Marfells Beach was quite busy and a couple of our regular sites were taken so we found a gap between the scrub and backed 'Out There' in on a slight angle to give us a bit of protection from the prevailing wind...

...and a little bit of privacy from the road. 

We'd heard that there had been a lot of changes to the seabed and beach after the 'quake but from our vantage point and first sightings- except for the wild flowers and seeding spinach, we must have come a lot earlier on other visits- it all looked the same. 

Some had mentioned that the beach was a lot sandier than before and I actually do think it was, on the surface anyway, but it still looked much the same as it did before the 'quake. 

This photo was taken 5 months before the 'quake-

And this one is 12 months after. The high tide line look similar or within cooey but there definitely was a lot of surface sand blowing in the strong westerly that arrived the day after us. The dust of Molesworth was soon replaced with sand from Marfells!

Marfells (and Marlborough in general) always puts on a few spectacular sunrises...

...and fiery sunsets for us, and they didn't disappoint on this visit either.

We also had a visit from this small plane one evenings, he flew in low right along the beach before turning and coming into land, taxiing up to where we were standing outside the van, giving us a wave, then turning and roaring off down the beach before taking off again. Not the usual sight we see on the Marfells Beach.

Next- 
Dramatic photos of Mussel Point before and after the 'quake.

Beach Hop South- Mataikona & Riversdale

Catch-up, this might be the last blog for a few days. Labour Weekend (a long weekend for Kiwis) is fast approaching and I think I'll take a few days off from my screen to relax and enjoy the early summer sunshine. 

As you've probably gathered from the previous Castlepoint blogs our sunny days in camp didn't last long. Two days of spring sunshine without the hint of a breeze and then dark storm clouds rolled in from the east.

For a few hours they stayed at sea and then headed north...

...before returning down the coast; with heavy rain and the wind whipping up the waves...

...and blowing bucket loads of sea foam and seaweed on shore.

The locals weren't impressed...

And nor were we...

It was cold, blustery and wet, there was nothing for it but to sit it out.

A gift for the locals came riding in on the waves...

A breakfast bar for birds- thousands of tiny goose barnacles smothered the log which would have been bobbing about in the ocean for a long while. Not quite above the tide line, the birds squabbled for the best position, landing and alighting as each wave swept over the top of it.  

After three days of stormy weather and cabin fever about to set in, we decided on a drive to blow the cobwebs away. And no, we did not stop at the local pub, the well known Whakataki Hotel which is back down the road about 5kms, just before the road hits the coast. The hotel is also CAP (costs apply parking) for NZMCA members, it used to be free parking until the usual happened, the minority spoilt it for the majority and abused the facilities. So now everyone pays.  

We turn off just before the pub, we're heading up the coast a short distance, to the settlement of Mataikona. The road is narrow and winding as it passes over a bluff but opens up once it reaches sea level again. We pass through a few small settlements, this one is called Sandy Bay. No prizes for guessing why.

And look, I found my ideal woolshed! With a cottage attached to the end of it. 

Further along the road we stop to check out some very fascinating rock formations. The Mataikona Rocks are a hidden geological gem; the spiky rows are the result of sandstone being compressed by the weight of the Pacific Ocean, then bent and buckled by colliding tectonic plates.

They are usually hidden by the sea so if you're wanting to see them, time your visit for low tide. The tide is on the way in when we stopped and by the time we returned back down the road, they were gone. I wanted to come back at low tide to walk out to the end and explore the rock pools but unfortunately the weather didn't settle until our last day. 

We very rarely come across traffic on these back country dead-end roads but today's vehicles are an unusual assortment; a fellow RVer freedom camping- he'd have been buffeted about overnight, a loaded logging truck, we moved off the road to let him past and I'm glad we didn't meet him on the bluff. And a police ute, which passed us twice, once while we were parked in the middle of the road! 

Just past Mataikona the road turns inland and follows the Mataikona River for a short distance before it becomes a 4WD track that comes out somewhere around Tinui. The river is also the province boundary line between Manawatu-Wanganui to the north and Wellington to the south.

We turn around just past the Paua Pad...

There are quite a number of  baches and make-do shacks sheltering in a pine plantation that runs alongside the road. I've been told that fishing and diving are very bountiful along this stretch of the coast.

On our way back to the main road we stop one last time, at the bluff, so I could take a photo looking down towards Castlepoint with Castle Rock towering above at the rear.

We then headed back inland to Tinui and down to Riversdale, 50 kms to the south of Castlepoint. At one stage we were going to take the 5th-wheeler down there and stay for a few days but with the weather not playing ball we decided to just do a day trip there. It rained on and off all the way...

...and it was cold and so blustery when we arrived, it was a quick run to the top of the sand dune to grab a shot and say 'been there, done that'. I don't even think David took a look. We found a sheltered spot at the end of the road to have lunch and then cursed the weather because we couldn't do an interesting walk along the beach, through the dunes and back along a stream. Well, we could have but it would have been no fun. 

Of course I couldn't leave without taking the obligatory church photo- Riversdale's St Josephs Church.

On the way home we stopped at the Tinui Cemetery where the Tinui Anzac Walkway begins. It's a steep climb to the top of Tinui Taipo (Mt. Maunsell) where the elusive ANZAC Memorial Cross is located (you'll recall I couldn't see it from the village). 

The walkway is through native bush plantings and  private farmland and is only open from Nov 1st to April 25th each year (which I think is just as well as I didn't really feel like a steep hike to the top). I'd seen a small pine enclosed in a cage near the information shelter when we were passing earlier and before realizing the significance of the walkway, I thought it might have been a wilding pine with an explanation as to why they are such a pest. Imagine my surprise to see that it was a very special Lone Pine! 

Back home and the barnacle bar is still providing food for the locals, this time a pair of Variable Oystercatchers, one with unusual striped underpants. Their antics reminded me of those slippery logs you  have to run across without falling off into the swimming pool. The tide spun it around and over as the birds ran up and down balancing carefully so as not to have to jump off.

They were late to the party though, most of the barnacles were gone. After seeing off the gulls they set about cleaning up the left-overs, sticking their bills down every nook and cranny prying out tasty morsels until the log was bare.

Mr & Mrs Red-billed Gull were not impressed.

Finally, after five days of cold, rain, wind and salt spray the sun came out....and David had to clean the van again! There's a lighthouse across there, somewhere.