Reefton

We drove to Reefton via lots of little communities that we wanted to check out like Murchison, Inglewood etc.  Rich biked a lot of this back in 2002, he reminisced, pointing out backpackers he camped at, hills he struggled up and all the pies he had eaten along the way  🙂

Reefton is a town that has held on strongly and proudly to its heritage and has really made an effort to restore its buildings to their former glory.  The result is a really lovely little town.

We stayed in a local home, the biggest we have stayed in so far.  A normal sized home but it felt enormous after all the tiny living we have been doing.

I had forgotten just how beautiful the west coast is and we have had really awesome weather so saw it at its very best, (the west coast is known for its wild weather  🙂  ).  Again we hiked and swam and immersed ourselves in the wilderness.  We did not have wifi, so could only connect when we could use data ,(which came and went), hence the lateness of my posts! 

We left Reefton and drove through Lewis Pass to the east coast, our destination Swannanoa. just outside of Rangiora (about 30 minutes from Christchurch).  Rich did this drive, usually I drive.  We tend to do trips like this no matter where we are, as Rich a way better navigator than me and I like to drive.  Rich however needs practice driving on the other side of the road and this was a good opportunity as the road quiet.  He finds the spacial effect of having all the car on his left side hard to get used to, he is getting better, but there are times I have white knuckles  🙂

We called into Hamner Springs, (a hot spring area) ,on the the way.  It has undertaken an amazing transformation, I could not believe it!  Last time I visited it was rather dingy, the baths themselves old and grungy, and the town tired and nondescript.  Now it is like a mini Queenstown,  a happening place, full of tourists and holidaymakers mid week.  The baths are amazing having undergone a massive update, there are cafes and specialty shops galore, and adrenaline adventures like bungy jumping, river rafting etc  on offer. So much  energy about the place that very much says there is more to come!!!   So surprising! 

Despite all this modernizing I found this in the middle of town..

It is a free swap book and game booth.  Fill of books and games that people help themselves to as they are passing, or put things into that they have finished with.  Obviously well used and looked after, I like that they have held onto the small town values despite all the progress  🙂

We arrived at our destination in Swannanoa and had an easy, early night all quite tired. 

Today we awoke to the sound of rain, (I think our 3rd wet day since we started our travels here), it was somewhat of a relief and we used it as an excuse to sleep in  🙂  .  We had a whatsapp call from friends in Costa Rica, was so good to talk to them all, we miss them! 

We decided to go into Rangiora to see what the town is like, it is about 15 minutes away.  Again I was so surprised, this town has grown so much and is obviously doing well.  We did some shopping and then went to see “Fantastic Beasts, The Crimes of Grindelwald ” at the local theatre.  The local theatre just happens to be the old town hall, a heritage building that has been transformed into a little theatre, so cute and intimate.  We sat next to some very friendly locals who raved about living here, (even the kids about their school!), and the movie was excellent, all in all a great experience  🙂

Tomorrow we head south of Timaru into  Mackenzie country.  We are going quite remote again as I want Luca to be able to see things like wild wallabies and boar, there is a good chance we will there, plus I really love the area and want to see what it is like now, so off we go….