Another day we travelled from Blenheim, up the Wairau Valley beside the Richmond Range ( there are other ways of getting there ) to the Nelson Lakes National Park . In the photo Lake Rotoiti . Note the snow.
The Wairau River flows along side the road in several places.
Like everywhere else we went it was mostly deserted but not quite.
This is the jetty in the top photo....underneath live THESE!
What brave ducks those are.The eels are the biggest and most in one place I have ever seen.
It was snowing on the tops of Middle earth ( yes it really is this location ). It was really cold.
so we drove up the hill nearby to St. Arnaud to a lovely warm Café.
That's the building on the right. On the left is a gift shop.
We did not sit outside as they would in Summer.
As I sat sipping a lovely hot lemon honey drink I got talking to 2 boys at a table nearby. One was reading ( The Faraway Tree ) the other was drawing. The waitress ( I suspect may have been Grandma ) brought the boys over a hot chocolate each. The youngest was the most talkative and told me about their school and what they did in St. Arnaud. I later went over to the gift shop which just happened to belong to the boys Mother. The youngest boy went and got his drawing folder and showed me his art. Very impressive for 8 years old. He then served me under supervision when I made some small purchases.
It was so delightful to meet kids who live in a tiny secluded place and to know how well and happily they would talk to adults they had never seen before. Very good ambassadors for the area I thought.
We enjoyed our time in the South .( I will leave it here .)
Meanwhile things are back to normal here. Leaves to clean up firewood to stack in the shed and general Winter chores for us.
That is such beautiful country - so wild and rugged!
ReplyDeletePhoto 1 and 3 are particularly beautiful. I haven't ever spent much time around the top of the South. Maybe I should!
ReplyDeleteThat all looks lovely. No wonder our Peter and Amy enjoyed their NZ trips so much.
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