Lake Ferry

Last weekend Noreen and I went over the hill to stay with Andy in Martinborough. We had a relaxing time sampling the delights the local restaurants and vineyards offer. We were very taken with Vynfields where we had Sunday lunch. After that we took a leisurely drive down to Lake Ferry. It’s a small seaside settlement at the bottom of the North Island. Literally at the end of the road. There is nothing between it and Antarctica.

The scenery is spectacular as these few shots will show you.

The dark colouration shows where the waves were coming up to. I didn’t hang around long for fear of getting swamped.

This is for Sam who asked what the surf was like – I don’t think it would have been very good for surfing.

And finally, Andy – as if emerging from the lagoon

Mother's Day

Mother in the singular because this post is mainly for the wandering children of the mother who is Noreen.

I had instructions to provide flowers and chocolate and to pass on the card that Jenny had hidden in her room before she left for parts foreign. The flowers came from the lovely Maori family at the market - not your multi-national Interflora overpriced florist. It was a glorious sunny day after a couple of cold, wet windy ones. Wellington at it's best.

There was also fudgy goodness.

Noreen was very touched by Jenny's card - from the pen of Edward Monkton who is Jenny's favourite provider of greetings stationery.

Baring Head

This is a relatively new walk and for us it was the first time we had visited it. The track starts next to the Wainuiomata Coast Road and crosses the Wainuiomata River before ascending steeply above the valley. There are two people fishing in the river here. It's good for trout I believe.

A bit further up and there is good view south to the coast.

Once over the saddle you can see the coast around Wellington and over to the South Island.

The area is well south of Wellington - this is looking north west across to the city with Pencarrow the headland in the centre.

As in most of New Zealand the sheep outnumber the people. If you look closely you can see Tapuae-o-Uenuku towards the left.

The track goes further south with views back along the coast to Turakirae Head 

A good spot out of the wind to have a sit down and take photos. 

This is a closeup of the mouth of the Wainuiomata River. 

Finally we reached the lighthouse - small but perfectly proportioned! Originally it was New Zealand's first diesel powered lighthouse but it now runs LEDs off the mains with solar backup.

We stopped for lunch down on the beach and then made our way back along the river to the car park from where we started. 

In family news, Jenny has returned to the UK. She has a blog to record her experiences but so far it is mainly reviews of young person's television. Be warned it is very geeky but I am hoping to get her inimitable wit describing the life and times of a wandering Kiwi.