After a less then perfect night's sleep (a mosquito had managed to get into the van) we left Jack's Gesthof just before 10am and went to visit Val, her husband Craig, their son Jack and Craig's father Bruce. We had a wonderful cup of tea, plus a brilliant cooked breakfast - thank you so much guys. Any time you are in France, let us know and we'll tell you how to find our house over there!
Tearing ourselves away, we set off driving up the Buller Gorge towards Murchison. For the next few kilometres we passed scores of people running or walking a marathon (or half-marathon), an annual event which Val has done once, her mother-in-law, Alison, twice.
The road snaked along the side of the river and at one point it narrowed down to a single lane track with an overhang cut out of the rock above.
First stop was at Lyell, an old gold mining town.
Though nothing seems to remain of the once fairly sizeable town, in the hills above were the remnants of the old town cemetery. A few fences denoted grave sites, some with headstones, and some with trees either growing in them or crashed onto them.
We walked round a looped track, along steep slopes, and finally along an old dray track until we regained our van.
Further along the gorge we came to the site of the longest pedestrian swing bridge in NZ, 110m. It is privately owned, so we paid our money, crossed the bridge, then walked around the tracks on the peninsular, seeing traces of the old gold mining works that had once stood there. The owners also run jet boat trips along the river, but we decided to pass on those.
We did, however, take the longer walk to go and visit the Ariki Falls. Looked a good location for kayaking!
Coming back over the river, I took the swing bridge again, whilst Mick came back on the zip wire!!
Back on the road again we continued following the Buller River, though Murchison, then along the road into The Nelson Lakes Park.
Our stop for the night is a DOC freedom campsite close to Lake Rotoiti. It was raining as we arrived, which has at least meant we have not been plagued by sand flies. After much reading of guidebooks, and consultation of maps, we have decided to drive to Collingwood tomorrow, try to book a safari on Farewell Spit for Monday, then to continue north and stay somewhere close to the Whanganui Inlet. Maybe we'll also manage to get some wifi to upload the last few days worth of this blog.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment