Purakaunui Falls

Beautiful Purakaunui Falls The 22 m falls are on the Tautuku River in Catlins Conservation Park and are often described as the most spectacular in the region. The walk to the falls is very pleasant and passes through a variety of forest and shrub types: huge tree fuchsia, stands of olearia and podocarp forest. A ten…

Ashburton Lakes – Lake Heron, Moari Lakes and Lake Emily

ASHBURTON LAKES – Lake Emily, Moari Lakes and Lake Heron

Waiuta

Waiuta is an almost abandoned gold mining town, 38 km south-east of Reefton. The town grew to provide accommodation for miners who worked at the nearby Blackwater mine which became the West Coast’s richest gold mine. The town is now designated a protected area, under the care of the Department of Conservation, the few local…

Piano Flat Camping ground

The popular Piano Flat riverside camping ground is situated in a farmland area with the beautiful Waikaia river running through it. There are walking tracks and tramps from here plus biking, fishing, hunting and 4WD excursions (see my Whitecoomb road post) This camp is very busy over Christmas, New Year and Easter etc. The last…

Whitecoomb Road

We were staying at the Piano Flat camping ground for a few days last summer and decided about 10.00am one morning to take the dogs up the road and find a quiet swimming hole for them. After they had a good swim we thought we would drive a bit further up Whitecoomb road.

Cable Bay – Nelson

Cable Bay in the Nelson region is a beautiful bay only 25 minutes from Nelson City. Great for swimming, fishing, kayaking, walking or just a having a relaxing picnic or a wander along the beach. The laying of New Zealand’s first international telegraph cable was from Sydney to Cable Bay, it took 11 days and…

Black Birch Ridge

If you are in the Blenhiem area and have a 4WD vehicle, make sure you drive up the Black Birch Ridge road for some spectacular views. The road is good but we were there on a stunning spring day, it’s probably a bit more challenging if it’s wet. The 360 degree views from the site…

Wainui Waterfall

In the Abel Tasman National park area you will find beautiful Wainui Bay and Wainui waterfall, the largest and most accessible falls in Golden Bay.

Slope Point

We had been to Slope point a few times but it was either blowing a howling gale and raining or the walk was closed for lambing. This was about the best day we had over the 2021 Christmas break so we made the most of it.