Hunkering Down at Hinahina, Catlins- Part 1

Catch-up, back to the Catlins

We didn't move far after we left Pounawea Motor Camp, just across the estuary to Hinahina Boat Club & Hall Reserve, a free parking area for CSC vans only. I say free, but donations in the iron maiden are gratefully received.

Some of you might recognise the photo of the Hinahina Hall. We visited the hall but didn't stay when we first travelled through the Catlins three years ago. The sofas have faded some more and a bright spark has added a note to the chalk board, but nothing much else has changed. At the time we said we'd love to come back when it was summer. Famous last words.

They ask that you park in the reserve around the hall and clear of the boat ramp, but with heavy rain & gale-force westerlies forecast (what's new), and no one else at the reserve we backed 'Out There' down there, between the boat sheds and the estuary to give us some shelter. 

We also checked the sailing schedule sheet posted in the watch-house; next sailing date February 7th, and if a boatie came into get their sailing dinghy out of one of the sheds, we gave them a good gap- although peeking in through the doors it hadn't looked like a boat had moved out of there in a very long time.

A gravel pile at the end of the point provided an excellent area to birdwatch. The pile would gradually disappear as the tide came in, slowly dislodging its avian roosters until just two tiny rock peaks were left and usually one shag, who claimed the 'king of the castle' title. The farmer who looks after the reserve told us that the gravel was dumped ballast from the coastal ships that came to transport logs out of the Catlins early last century.

'Out There' once again provided an excellent bird hide, I could sit at the dining room table and watch as birds arrived to feed as tide went out. White faced herons, spoonbills, oystercatchers, pied stilts, kingfishers, shags and ducks all checked out the small deeper pond formed behind the rocks before parading up and down the tide line in front of us. I even saw two rabbits playing out on the dry mud and a wild cat creeping along the rock wall behind us. Open the door to step outside and there'd be a flurry of activity as they quickly departed.

I think the herons must have a built-in 'my-space' measurement calculator (perhaps they could pass it onto a few motorhomers who overlook the recommended 3 metre gap between camping sites) - it's the second time I've seen herons lined up at regular intervals along the edge of the water, the photo below shows just 4 birds but there are another 3 out of the frame. 

We were housebound for two whole days as the wind and rain hammered us, it was bleak but we were toasty warm with the diesel heaters and we had plenty of supplies. And then on the 3rd morning an unfamiliar bright orange glow filled the bedroom and woke me very early. 

For the next  half hour I wandered about in my dressing gown taking a multitude of stunning sunrise shots and marvelling at the early morning nature show that many people miss. 

The reflections over the estuary were amazing but all too soon the clouds rolled back together and the sun was gone for another day.

We had neighbours again once the wind settled and the rain had stopped. 

And one day we came home from exploring to find another Ultima parked along from us. We've met many Ultima owners on the road but with over 60 out there (no pun intended), there's still quite a few we haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. 

We racked our brains but couldn't tie the ute to the Ultima on this one. That was until David popped over to say hi, and the door was answered by a lovely couple of ladies that we'd shown through our van a couple of years ago. From then on we kept bumping into each other all the way down the Catlins.

The next morning's sunrise was just as stunning...

And even though there was a bit of cloud cover it soon burnt off.

To reveal a beautiful stunning Catlins day in one direction...

...and a awesome nor-wester arch in the other! (both photos taken within a minute of each other)

David tried his hand fishing but didn't have the luck he'd had at the top of the estuary...

...although he did get more than he'd bargained for... to be continued

Beach Hop South- Castlepoint

Catch-up- Well, we're now back on the Mainland after a very smooth crossing Monday morning. I know how to pick 'em! We'll be catching up with friends and doing a few errands around Picton and Blenheim before heading out into the wild blue yonder again. To check out new places, revisit a few of our favourite haunts, do some fishing and most importantly, catch up with our Southland family again. Although that won't be until we're closer to Christmas but at least we're on the right island and heading in their direction.

Now, back to the beach hop blogs-

From Pongaroa we headed into Masterton to fill up with diesel and groceries before carrying on to our next beach destination Castlepoint, 65kms away.  And wow, what a fantastic camp site we ended up with. Right on the beach with stunning views around the bay and of the lighthouse that is synonymous with Castlepoint. And as it turned out this was going to be our view for the next 7 days.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself again. Just before we reached Masterton I took a photo of this small church which so far, I have been unable to locate any information on. This is very unusual as normally I'll find at least one photo on the internet, even if there's no written information. I uploaded it to my Flickr 'Country Churches of NZ' group in the hope that someone there could fill in a gap or two. I also sent a few emails to various organisations but have yet to hear back from them. 

And then, the unexpected happened. The photo above got *Explored* by Flickr. For those that don't know, Flickr is a photo sharing site and I use it to upload, store & share my photos. Flickr receives around 6,000 uploads every minute - that's about 8.6 million photos a day. From this huge group of images, Flickr choose only 500 images to showcase as *Explored* for each 24-hour period. That's only one image in every 17,000. So now thousands of people worldwide will see my church photo but still nobody will be able to help me. Talk about ironic!

And while we're on churches here's another beauty just out of Masterton, this one is St Albans Anglican Church (1905) at Taueru, a 'blink & you'll miss it' settlement on the road to Castlepoint.

What I loved about this very well looked after church were the flowering trees framing the church and the mass of daffodils and jonquils blooming throughout the paddock behind it. 

We stopped 20kms from Castlepoint at Tinui, a small picturesque village with a ton of history attached. Tinui's claim to fame is that the first ANZAC memorial service in the world was held there at the Church of the Good Shepherd. It was great to be able to add this church to my collection. And no, this isn't a blog on churches (although looking at the photos so far you'd be forgiven for thinking so), I shall move on to the beach soon!

There's a memorial cross up on the hill behind the church (the bare hilltop to the left above), but I couldn't spot it against the gloomy skyline. I failed to see it the next time we passed by too.

The significance of holding the very first ANZAC service here in Tinui is shown in the size of the War Memorial Hall. It's huge for such a tiny settlement. The hall was built in 1954, and until 1960 the Memorial Room could only be used for public meetings if a lady was present. Wise people who put that particular rule in place. The Gallipoli sign post is a poignant touch.

While I took photos David parked outside the fire 'station'- I like the sign directing trucks to the toilets! I think they mean truckies.he 

They were asked not to park on the new tarseal outside the public toilets or use the lovely clean loos (dirty boots probably, not dirty habits). The toilets were located inside the old Tinui School porch. That's kinda weird; having loos inside a school porch. The porch looked kinda weird standing there all by itself too.

Beside the 'Porch' were the old Police Station, the jail, random farm equipment and plenty of historic information about the village. All very well looked after by some very dedicated residents.

Across the road from the hall is the old General Store (1868) which is now a craft shop...

...and on the opposite corner the former Post Office (1902).

Once I'd finished exploring, I waved out (half a dozen times- I think he was snoozing) to my ever patient husband who came cruising up the road to collect me and we carried onto Castlepoint.

There is a freedom camping area at Castlepoint, in the carpark at the end of the road but we've heard that it can be very exposed when (not if) the wind gets up and includes a free sandblasting for any vehicles parked there. We were going to stop for a few days so we decided to stay at the lovely Castlepoint Holiday Park. 

And being the only ones in camp the obvious choice of site was right at the front! What was that about wind? No worries. Not a breath of wind and a calm sea for the first two days at least. And there weren't any noticeable sand dunes nearby, so we should be ok, right?

Our only visitors were these escapees from Castlepoint Station. Every time I walked around the campground I'd find them lurking behind a building or munching in a garden. 

The very well looked after Castlepoint Holiday Park overlooks the beach and of course that ever present lighthouse. The campground rises five levels up the hill behind and stretches back quite a distance from the beach. There are many permanent caravans with built-in decks and sheds but no full-time residents. I can imagine every available space of this camp would be filled with people over the summer holidays. 

The view from the top level is spectacular...

...and especially from this deck beside one of the permanent caravans.

I went for a walk along the waterfront while we had a blue sky. You never know when that's going to change at this time of the year.

"Hear ye, hear ye" 

How many photos can one take of a lighthouse? I think I might have broken the record. Just be pleased I'm not posting them all on here!

The Castlepoint Store, a necessity with Masterton being so far away although only recently re-opened. 

An assortment of typical Kiwi baches all with waterviews except that bottom right bach. What do you do when you want to check out the surf before leaving the house? You build a deck on your roof of course.

The remnants of the Castlepoint early settler cemetery were just outside the camping ground.

Given the amount of names on the board there are very few grave sites left.

The family of this guy certainly didn't want anyone to forget him. A pity a few more graves weren't marked like this, it would certainly help historians track people down.

And here's another lighthouse photo to finish the blog with, this one taken at sunset.

More to come...

Beach Hop South- Kairakau, HB; Part 1

Real-time: and once again I find I have too many photos to share so this'll be a two parter on our first beach stop. 

We had one important stop before we pulled out of Napier, a visit to the dump station to empty our tanks. This dump station on Marine Parade must have one of the best outlooks in New Zealand; down the Parade and out over Hawke Bay. It's a typical sunny & hot Hawkes Bay day and we're hoping it'll follow us down the coast.

We head south, through Clive, skirt around Havelock and off down Middle Road. It's not long before I shout 'Stop!' (that familiar cry when we're on another little adventure), as I spy a cute church at the back of a paddock down by the Tukituki River. This is on the property of Camp David, a Christian Outdoor Education Centre and the church has been moved there, but I have no idea where from.

Once past the lifestyle blocks, Middle Road narrows and then twists and turns through rolling green Hawkes Bay farmland; the paddocks full of cute spring lambs. No dairy conversions out here.

We take a left turn at the end of the road and head down a hill to see a country hotel ahead of us and three pairs of eyes watching as we approach.

This is the Patangata Tavern and it's a busy country pub as it turns out, it's very popular with weekend day-trippers, bikers and bus tours and there are a group of seniors from Hastings having lunch today. We pull over for a break (and so I can take photos) and before we know it we're surrounded by three friendly chaps asking about the 5th-wheeler and our lifestyle.

By all accounts, the Patangata Pub was also a very popular hotel many, many years ago too. Two of my uncles worked on Kapiti Farm Station out near the beach we're heading to and this was their weekend 'local'- even though it was 23kms away. 

It was also the pub that my parents visited when they were 'courting', Dad driving his Model A truck out from Hastings to the farm to see the family and then, when the Model A became unreliable, bringing his soon-to-be-bride out in his 1940 Ford Prefect. 

There's a 'family story' of Mum driving off in Dad's car while he and his mate were relieving themselves on the side of the Patangata Road. She then wound the window up on his friend's head when he jumped on the running board to reach in and turn the key off. She laughed so much she forgot to put the handbrake on and the car ran off the road and into a culvert. They had to wait half an hour for another vehicle to come by and rescue them. And he still married her! 

This will not be the first unusual 'courtesy car' we're going to see on our beach hop.

The South Island isn't the only one with long single lane bridges either- here's the Patangata Bridge over the Tukituki River. Although most of it crosses over a bare dirt paddock which is obviously a flood plain on those rare occasions when the Tuki floods.

Further on and we take a slight detour when I see another church across a paddock. We pull up outside the Elsthorpe Hall and for the second time that day we're approached by a small group of men keen to look at the van. They've volunteer firemen and have been out on a call, they couldn't locate the fire and have just returned the fire truck to it's garage. I leave them yarning to David while... 

...I shoot next door to, well, shoot Elsthorpe's St Stephens Anglican Church...

...and a whole bunch of spring daffodils in the garden across the road. 

We carry on and it's not long before we reach our destination and the first beach we're visiting on our way south; Kairakau Beach.

We drive through the settlement to the north end of the beach where there's a lovely grassed area available for CSC (certified self-contained) vehicles to stay. This is Central HB District Council land that's looked after by the Kairakau Residents Association and a donation is asked for if you stay. The only problem is the iron maiden is right back at the beginning of the beach road and is often missed by visitors. 

We can't believe our luck at how fabulous the site is, right on the beach and no one else around! There are signs asking that you park at right angles to the beach which is fair enough in the summer when it would be busy, but I'm sure we'll be fine parked parallel so we can take in the view while sitting in our slide-out.

The only problem we see is, like Ward Beach, in Marlborough, the beach is backed by a row of very tall cliffs and very soon the sun will disappear behind them. Never mind, the wind is chilly and we'll be inside by late afternoon anyway.

It's not long before we hear a quad bike approaching and we have the pleasure of meeting another very friendly chap (who said South Islanders were the friendly bunch, Hawkes Bay is doing pretty darn well today). Graham introduces himself as one of only seven permanent residents and invites us to move down to the campground if we're wanting the late afternoon sun- it's on the corner of the estuary and beach by the buildings in the photo below. The beach campground (also run by the residents association) doesn't open until the end of the month but we're quite welcome to shift down there if we'd like. 

We decide to stay put, we like overlooking the beach and we've also just about finished setting up and about to unhitch. But it was lovely to have been offered the choice. Graham stays for a cup of tea and we sit outside having a chat while he fills us in on a lot of the history around Kairakau.

There's a prominent feature just off the beach at Kairakau; four rocks that provide a degree of shelter to the open beach. Graham tells us they have names, probably given to them by locals a long time ago; from left to right- Three Bears, Racing Car, Punch & Judy, and Long Rock (which is out of picture, to the right here). I can see the slight resemblance to the first two but Punch & Judy? Not so much. Graham says that's because Punch fell off! 

And there's Long Rock out the back.

I climbed up the hill behind- not to the top which would have killed me- just enough to get a birdseye view of  'Out There' and the beach. And look at that, the complete beach and virtually the whole settlement to ourselves. It never fails to amaze us at how often we find we're staying in stunning locations and have the place totally to ourselves. 

As the sun sets later in the day we decide that Kairakau Beach is a good first stop to get us back in the mode of travelling and exploring. And we once again decide that we really do live in an amazing country.

To be continued....Kairakau Beach; Part 2