Rainbow Mountain Trail Ride

Simply magic, Ang, Ruth Lucy and I descended on the GNTR Mini, it was gnarly, cantering down steep hills but we all felt that our riding skills improved greatly over the weekend. Can’t wait for next years big one...

Images of Wellington

Castlepoint

Had a magic break away in Castlepoint although it was really windy, it just made it more atmospheric and we totally chilled out. Castlepoint is a fantastic place for photos I think I’ll just let the results speak for themselves...

Golden Bay

Mum and I went on a road trip to the Golden Bay, first we had to contend with some very wintry weather and played for a bit in the snow on the top of the Takaka Hill.

Next up was the Pohara Beachfront Motor Camp, gorgeous campground with our unit right on the beach and we fell asleep to the sound of waves lapping on the shoreline.
The beach itself was stunning with lots of examples of the native wild life, sand crabs, scallops, sand sharks and a mean looking barracuda (reminder to self forget all about this when I next go there in the summer!).





We spent the next day walking, walking and walking some more a particular highlight was the Pupu Hydro walkway, the brochure mentioned a narrow boardwalk nothing prepared you for the narrowness of it or the sheer drop on the other side. The Pupu springs themselves were not what I expected right next to farmland and the water was running really fast into the rivers.




We went on some more walks in the Kahurangi National Park (no sand flies, what a pity) and the Abel Tasman National Park as well.

We collapsed for the night after the most scrummy meal at the Penguin Cafe (fully recommend this).




The next day I had arranged for us to go on a horse ride (surprise, surprise) right out by Farewell Spit (the longest sand spit in the world) and along a beach called Puponga, we saddled up and went with Gael for a canter or two along the beach. Along the way we were shown a resident of the deep that had taken a wrong turn and ended up on the shoreline, a sun fish, if you ever get a chance to see one of these it’s really hard to imagine them swimming in the sea.






Afterwards we went to Whakariki beach, beautiful area of New Zealand and I had no idea that the west coast of the south island could have such golden sand. Then it was back over the hill and time for civilisation

Whale watching - Kaikoura

At long last Mum and I went whale watching in Kaikoura, magnificent day and animals, loads of sperm whales and heaps of birds, truly magical....

Jork - Yorvik

I dragged one of my old work friends away on a weekend to York, sorry Woody I hope your feet recover soon! 





We had a fantastic weekend in York. York is the largest medieval walled city in the UK. The walls, minster (amazing views from the top) and Clifford’s tower were all well worth a visit.










Dad, you will want at least a day at the National Railway Museum, you will love it, a train enthusiasts dream.



Jorvik (an archaeological site) was a superb attraction totally unexpected, a ride which consisted of flying above Viking York (aka Jorvik).










York Dungeon was another excellent attraction where we learnt about the darker side of York. York is a really spooky place which is brought to life by dozens of ghost walks, definitely go on one as its really interesting to hear what happened where and also of course see some ghosts!