15/04/2008 by jon.

So, we’re back from the West Coast and we miss it already.

After heading out of Christchurch - and when is that not a good feeling - towards Arthur’s Pass, things started to look up. The weather was gloomier than a wet weekend in Bognor but that’s usually a good sign if you’re crossing the Alps. The drive to Arthur’s Pass was lovely with the Autumn colours on display and when we stopped in the village at the Pass, all was well in the world.

The drive continued on to Hokitika and the beach … ah the beach. It was bloody marvelous to be on the beach again and we wondered just how savage the sandfly attacks would be, especially since Jackie’s normally a prime target for that kind of thing. Well, we were surprised to see that they were pretty timid on the beach, as can be seen by this picture of happiness.

The beach is known for being empty, the rips, sandfly and driftwood. Well apart from the shy fly, the others were all present in abundance, if emptiness can be present in abundance. There were thousands of bits of driftwood in all shapes and sizes and the colours became apparent later on as the bleaching sun lost some of it’s intensity.

Not too long later, the sun dropped into the Tasman as I looked towards Australia. Of course, then our thoughts turned to food … as usual. Hokitika has four or five very good places to eat, it makes you wonder if there’s a job there just for you. Of course not, but who wants a job anyway?

The next day was again beautiful, so much warmer than what we left back East. Another impossibly bright day, on the beach, 20 degrees, no bugger about.

So where’s the famous sandfly? On holiday perhaps? No, he’s hanging around with a billion of his pals up at Hokitika Gorge. Well, there was a couple of dozen of them anyway, but only once you get close to the fresh water.

Heading North, the great weather held up and it doesn’t look like it’s unusual. There were still flowers in full bloom even though it’s now officially Autumn. This beauty was on the road North to Punakaiki.

There are two things about Punakaiki that brings people here. The amazing pancake rocks shown below, and the blowholes. Unfortunately, the blowholes only blow at high tide, and we were about three hours too early for that. We will be going back however as we spotted a top posh place to stay, with views over the Tasman, and you know we like a bit of posh.

The last leg of the journey home followed the Buller River upstream, through an old mining town called Reefton, to the Lewis Pass and tantalisingly close to Hanmer Springs. We would have stopped overnight at Hanmer, but we’re probably going there for a long weekend in two weeks time. I know, it’s a hard life, but somebody has to do it.

More photos can be found on Flikr.

Posted in April 2008 | Print | 2 Comments »

07/04/2008 by jon.

Sadly, I’m not a driver of a train. For those who may have missed the reference, there’s an educational video for you on YouTube.

Almost two months since I last wrote anything meaningful and that’s a sorry state of affairs, and something that I will put right as we wait for the dinner to cook. Fish pie tonight … mmmm, lovely. You could almost believe you were in a sunny seaside town with the fresh sea air and blue skies if it was not for the rain and the smell of fires.

Log fires are burning everywhere today because the weather has turned all Scottish on us. Yah, boo, suck to that. The strange thing is, the weather was pants at work and sunny but cool here at home and I am starting to think that I have my own personal rain cloud in the office. That’s surprising with it being such a great place to work and all that.

This weekend we are heading over to the west coast and will of course take a whole load of photos and eventually get them onto the web. Just like the last lot. I have started to put them onto Flickr but have not labelled them all (or, indeed any of them) yet but I’ll let you know.

Must go check on supper …

Posted in April 2008 | Print | 2 Comments »