Wednesday walk

Every Wednesday my sister goes walking with a group - so this Wednesday I joined them.

I was a little trepidacious (is that a word?) as this group is very fit despite an average age of around 65. We started at the bottom of the hill and steadily climbed...and climbed.
Then we went across to a stand of old totara trees. In the barren landscape they are a rarity and I'm not sure how they survived the burn-offs that occurred all over the area by Maori looking for moa birds back in the dim distant past. I'd love to say how old they are but I have no idea. They are very slow growing so the best I can do is to say they are old.

Lunch stop

And back near the bottom were these hawthorn trees - laden with berries

Other wildlife - beehives

and sheep
And heading back to the car. Still up with the bunch - those early morning walks I've been doing with my sister must have helped.

Jammy

Today we bought a box of strawberries - tonight we have jam

cat on a hot day

This is Abby - and to keep cool she's as stretched out as much as possible

Sunday stroll

 We decided to take a Sunday stroll yesterday. So drove up the valley behind Bannockburn to Duffers Pass (which then leads into the Nevis Valley behind the Remarkables).  You can kind of see where I am staying - we are halfway up the lake (Dunstan) on the left

 These are Spaniards. You soon learn to give them a very wide berth as everything about them is sharp, hard spikes and = pain.

 All this country is old goldmining territory and they built water races (channels) to provide the water necessary for panning or sluicing. In the photo below (click to enlarge) you can see the horizontal line of the race.

 The goal of the walk was to get to this waterwheel...

...and these nearby  huts.

By now the sunny and blustery day was turning into something more ominous...

...and it rained. And we got a bit wet. The the sun came out again and we dried out.

A Perfectly Fine Day

Friday was my birthday - and it's up there with the best of them.

Why?

1. Well - the sky was like this all day

2. I didn't have to work - actually I haven't got a job anyway

3. And we spent the day in Arrowtown - an old goldmining town that still retains a lot of its historic character

After lunch and retail therapy we adjourned for the cool of the local movie theatre.

Not just any movie theatre though. Dorothy Browns is more of a boutique venue that is something of a local institution. It's fairly intimate, has a better quality of ice cream and you can also get a nice glass of wine to sup.

We saw The King's Speech - every bit a good as people have said.

After the movie we scrapped the plans for dinner there (too full of lunch and ice cream) and drove back home for some late afternoon sun, Qurtz Reef bubbles and after dinner....
.......these - Pink Lady cupcakes. Well not all of them but we made a fair dent in the numbers.
Yum yum - perfect day - thanks Alaine