May 2nd
We woke next morning to another beautiful day. We went for a drive out towards Jack's Pass to have a look down on the town.
On the way we got lost and Marisa spotted these unusual toadstools. She has a knack for finding unusual fungi.
The Jack's Pass road was another test of my resolve over common sense. It is a narrow road with a loose blue metal surface clinging to the side of an enormous mountain. I continued driving upward only because I was too scared to contemplate trying to turn around.
After a few kilometres we reached a parking area where Marisa took some shots of the spectacular view. We headed back to Hanmer for a coffee and a look around the various shops.
We had a cappuccino at a place that also, apparently, serves stone grilled food. This certainly smells delicious but we didn't indulge since it was still a fair way to lunch time. The town is lovely. You can hire multi passenger pedal bikes for getting around town.
There is a little bit of everything in this town. You can hire your ski gear; go horse riding; take a quad bike trek or try bungie jumping.
Finally we took a walk in Hanmer forest. This is just a short drive out of town. The forest is beautiful with well established paths and trails.
Unfortunately it is very difficult to take a photograph that does justice to the size of trees in a forest. We met quite a few people on the trail as we walked so obviously this is a popular activity for those who aren't inclined to the more extreme sports that Hanmer offers.
Now the only thing better than a good walk in Hanmer forest is a good sit down in Hanmer forest.
We have put Hanmer on the itinerary for our winter tour. We are going to try the horse riding and quad bike trekking. I would also like to try sitting in the thermal pools while there is snow on the ground. I have seen photographs and Hanmer looks magical in the snow.
We left Hanmer around lunch time and headed back to Christchurch.
I have recently taken up flying lessons so I'm planning to put a few aerial shots around Christchurch up here soon. New Zealand is a great place for aviation activities. Flying is a great way to get around and there are numerous flight schools to get your pilots license or helicopter pilots license.
Once you've got your license it is easy to hire planes and it is the cheapest way to get around the country. Anyway, more of that later.
--Brook
May 23rd
Today we went to Mt Sunday on Mt Potts Station. This is the location of Edoras in the Two Towers movie. We left Christchurch around lunch time. Unfortunately we had forgotten the camera but we didn't discover that until we were well on the way. This picture is from http://www.teararoa.org.nz/. We'll replace it with our own once we've been back again.
When we reached Darfield we turned left and headed for Methven, retracing our horrible trip of January 4th. This time we did not encounter any severe heat. Cloud hung low over the mountains.
We passed through the beautiful little towns of Glentunnel and Windwhistle. We stopped for a coffee at Rakaia Gorge. We seemed to be the only people there and we had the fast flowing river almost to ourselves. There is a nice little camping spot here that we will try out in the future.
We then drove south. We ignored the turn-off to Methven, preferring to keep the mountains in view. On a whim, when we saw the Mt Potts turn-off we decided to go and find the location for Edoras. We drove around 45 Km's, the last of it on unsurfaced road. We eventually came over a hill and were confronted with the beautiful valley of the braided Rangitata river . The clouds were left behind except for whisps clinging to the sides of the mountains. Mt Sunday, the hiil that Edoras was built on was visible immediately sitting in the valley between the most incredible snow capped peaks.
We drove along to the loose track until we drew level with Mt Sunday and determined that it was still a good half hour walk. The set has been completely removed now but the hill is unmistakable. We didn't have permission from the station owner so we didn't walk to the peak but we will return. We had another coffee while we took in the spectacular views and the glorious sunshine.
For those interested there is skiing at Mt Potts. You travel to the slopes by helicopter. I had been advised previously that this trip is best done in a four wheel drive but we didn't have any problems in our little station wagon. I recommend this trip to anyone who loves alpine scenery. It really is extraordinary.
--Brook