We visited Denniston back in Easter after walking the Old Ghost Road, but our hostess convinced us that we had barely scratched the surface of this old coal mining area so we drove up the hill after breakfast this morning. Lerey is friends with Gary and Sylvia James who are some of few people that still live up there, so she rang to find out if the Friends Of The Hill museum was open – which it was.
Continue reading Denniston and Cape Foulwind
Month: December 2015
Charming Creek
The Charming Creek Walkway runs from Ngakawau through to the Charming Creek Road at Seddonville, a 19km return trip. We had planned to walk it together today but when I discovered you can ride it on a mountain bike I came up with a cunning plan.
Continue reading Charming Creek
Millerton
Up a winding road from Granity on NZ’s west coast is the old coal mining town of Millerton. Like its much more famous neighbour Denniston, it had an incline which allowed wagons of coal to be lowered down to the railway along the coast.
Continue reading Millerton
Six Mile Hydro Matakitaki
About ten kilometres south of Murchison is the site of New Zealand’s oldest hydro power station. We had stopped in town to do some shopping and visit the information centre and it sounded like an interesting place to visit.
Continue reading Six Mile Hydro Matakitaki
Wairoa River
We only had a couple of kilometres to drive from our camp-site to the bridge over the Wairoa River. This is not to be confused with the river with the same name that we walked along at the end of our Richmond Range tramp a week ago; this one empties into the Whanganui Inlet out on the west coast past Collingwood.
Continue reading Wairoa River
Lake Otuhie
After a stop in Takaka to stock up on food and diesel, and for me to do a couple of urgent web update jobs for clients, we drove out past Collingwood to the west coast.
Continue reading Lake Otuhie
Totaranui
My last visit to Totaranui was almost three decades ago when Felicity and I tramped the Able Tasman Track. That time we just passed through this huge camping area, so it has been nice to spend a bit more time here.
Continue reading Totaranui
Takaka
With our stowaway rat on board we drove over the hill from Nelson to Golden Bay. Ms Rat was obviously rather hostile about us killing her babies, because she had destroyed a brand new packet of coffee overnight.
Continue reading Takaka
Wairoa River
The alpine section of our trip is over, and we spent the morning descending steadily to the Wairoa River.
Continue reading Wairoa River
Tarn Hut
Today was a rather short day, because we reached Tarn Hut soon after lunch.
Continue reading Tarn Hut
Mt Rintoul Hut
The weather had improved by morning, but the whole area was under a blanket of white snow. There was more rain forecast for the afternoon so again we decided to make an early start. Continue reading Mt Rintoul Hut
Old Man Hut
About six in the morning, Felicity started making tea as usual, and suggested that we get going early to avoid rain forcast for later in the day. It turned out to be a good call. Continue reading Old Man Hut
Starveall Hut
Our voyage across Cook Strait turned out to be very pleasant, with the sea so calm I could almost have kayaked.
Wellington waterfront
Wellington on a fine afternoon is a very pleasant place to be. We are parked on Waterloo Quay for the night, waiting to catch a ferry to the mainland tomorrow morning.
Continue reading Wellington waterfront
Kaniwhaniwha and Pukemokemoke
We were sorry to have missed the last Indian Ink Theatre Company production, so we decided to attend the opening night of their new play, The Elephant Thief. This meant an overnight trip to the Waikato, because the Meteor Theater is in Hamilton.
Continue reading Kaniwhaniwha and Pukemokemoke