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MACKS MEANDERMACKS MEANDER
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MACKS MEANDER

February - April 2024
3 or 4 sleep till we head of on another Southern adventure. I'm hoping we'll get away Tuesday evening and maybe stay at Ardmore Wings. That way we won't have to fight the traffic on Wednesday morning. Doing the clothes pack today. Very excited. Read more
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  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 11

    DAY EIGHT X 2

    February 20 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Woke this morning to rain, strong winds, raging 🌊 and a huge drop on temperature. From 29 degrees yesturday to 11 degrees . Decided to come to Kaikoura for a night as we needed to top up the pantry, gas bottle, buy cheap fuel and use the laundry. After a week on the road it was also time for some house hold chores!!! So no pretty pics for you tonight but I hope you enjoy my humour 😉Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 12

    DAY NINE

    February 21 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    We are now at Conway Flat (40km from Kaikoura) with stunning views and dolphin entertainment. 🐬 yep they performed for us , doing flips and splashing around. Shame they were too far out to photograph 📸 This beach is completely different to Ward. No rocks here just gritty black sand. Still not suitable for swimming as very steep and big dumping waves. Also rather chillier water than Orewa Beach. The land owner/farmer very kindly came round a while ago with a bucket of home grown nectarines he was sharing around. Taste much nicer than our bought ones. 😋 We feel so privileged to be able to stay at places like this and Ward Beach due to the generosity of the owners. And it's certainly one of the advantages of traveling 'self contained' photo 1. The Driver on Dolphin watch. 2. There's always laundry . 3 & 4 Wow the view!!! Tomorrow Torlesse Winery Waipara ValleyRead more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    1
    Day 13

    DAY TEN

    February 22 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Conway Flat to Kaiapoi. Woke at 7am to our 'no gas' alarm going off. Lucky we have 2 bottles and lucky also as it meant we got to see this gorgeous sunrise. Had a walk along the beach before packing up and saw dolphins in quite close. 2 of them jumped together which looked real cool but no chance of a photo as they are too quick. A decent sized seal was sunning itself on the beach causing us to pass by warily. Took a secondary road for a change of scenery. Stopped at Waiau and did a river walk picking and eating blackberries along the way. Very historic area so we read the pictorial sign boards around town. Went to an old pub advertising great coffee and had a Not great coffee. Served by an older man with long greasy hair. That should have been a tell tale sign. Rotherham school was selling sweet corn so we got some for our dinner. Last stop was bustling Culverdon where we had lunch and I broused an art and craft shop. Decided to bypass the winery where we're were going to stay and come straight here. Today is the anniversary of the big earthquake.Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 14

    DAY ELEVEN

    February 23 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    A day getting to know Kaiapoi. It has really impressed us as a town. Very pretty and neat with lots of colourful council gardens and of course having the river flow through the town center adds extra interest, especially to us water lovers. This afternoon we did a rather nice 2hr bike ride. A lot of it along the Waimakiriri River where they do jet boating. Tomorrow a full day ride through several towns and villages.
    So here's a few pics from our walk about. Note the sign above the loos.    Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 15

    DAY TWELVE

    February 24 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Nothing much for you tonight. Spent most of the day cycling 53km of Waimakiriri Eastern Cycle Trails. Starting at 9.15am from camp through Pines Kairaki Beach, Woodend Beach, Pegasus (coffee break), Waikuku Beach, Rangiora then home 2pm for a well deserved lunch and cuppa. Sound impressive? Actually it was a really good ride with lots of trail surface variation and scenery. Riding through Rangiora township was a bit challenging as heaps of traffic and little in the way of instruction on our trail map or signage. Still The Driver managed to guide us through and home admirably. Tour Leader just followed along sweetly. No photos todayRead more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 16

    DAY THIRTEEN

    February 25 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Just back from sharing a lovely dinner at the RSA with Carol. Real nice to see her, catch up on family news and share ours. Just a very leisurely day today. A walk for coffee this morning and another this afternoon to take more photos. Walked through the community garden opposite our camp site where The Driver picked himself an apple. Tour Leader was busy admiring the artwork, even on the compost bins. On the move tomorrow. Have to visit a motorhome store on the other side of ChCh for a spare part so have decided to spend a night at Weedons. (Wings site)Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 17

    DAY FOURTEEN

    February 26 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    A day of chores and moving location. From beautiful Kaiapoi to the dry brown paddock of Weedons (wings) for one night only. Made use of the clothes line here. Quite sorry to leave Kaiapoi as the town captured our hearts rather. On the way out of town we stopped and got a wee pile of goodies from Hellers factory shop. Oh my gosh such good prices. Our wee haul was only $20. One of the nice things about moving around like we are is you meet some really interesting and inspiring people. Like the dear 84yr old lady driving her campervan all the way from Kerri Kerri to Oamaru to her son's place for his birthday. All by herself. And shes had some challenges along the way too, one neading a panel beater. She's got 6 kids and had 23 foster children. What a gem.Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 18

    DAY FIFTEEN

    February 27 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Left Weedons this morning and first stop was the famous Darfield bakery for coffee and to top up our snack stash. Driving to Whitecliffs through rural Canterbury we passed Glen Tunnel with its tiny library. On arrival at Whitecliffs domain we discover that there actually wasn't drinking water as we had believed there would be and our tank was dry. So a quick rethink brought us to Lake Coleridge. The site of nzs first and still operating hydro power station. But between Whitecliffs and Coleridge was a stop at Washpen Falls. A 40min uphill haul then down to the very high waterfall. I made good use of dads walking pole to help me on some of the tricky uneven surfaces. The walk back being downhill and flatish was very pleasant. The birdsong and the sound of trickling streams awsome. About 90mins in total with lots of photo stops. We were so lucky to have cloud cover for this walk not bright scorching sun. It's very quiet here and I think our first day I think with NO wind. Will explore the walks tomorrow. Ps. You'll receive this a day late as no internet here.Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 19

    DAY SIXTEEN

    February 28 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We've moved from Lake Coleridge to Ashburton
    and have the wind back, bother. Actually Coleridge was a bit of a disappointment in that the lake wasn't near the village. However we enjoyed learning the history of the place and had a nice walk where we got a beautiful view (The Driver sitting on the bench) of the stunningly braided Rakaia River and surrounding ski fields minus snow. Lake Coleridge is an inland lake feeding the Coleridge power station
    The very first hydro power station in nz. (1914). The wee village seems to be mostly holiday homes, I guess for skiers and fishing people, and some power station staff of which there are only 6 these days. Tour Leader was quite keen to see this lake, so The Driver checked out the list of walks , of which there are plenty, and found one to the Inlet for the power station. Over 3hrs to do 10km. A big 30min vertical climb to start with, then an up hill slog on a very gravelly road. Not nice and I didn't enjoy. Still it wasn't hot and coming back to the motorhome was a breeze. Plenty tired tonight and some achey bits. Look for me way down the track by the big pipes to the power station and note how steep. That's just the start.    Read more

  • TravelerMACKS MEANDER
    Day 20

    DAY SEVENTEEN

    February 29 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Woke to a drizzly miserable morning so time for jeans and jumper for our morning excursion. Took a drive to Lake Hood in time for coffee. This is a beautiful man made recreational lake and housing development very similar to Pegasus. (ChCh) Then a stop at Mitre 10 for some window cleaner and to Noel Leeming for binoculars (Sharon.) The sun came out for our visit to the gorgeous Trott gardens. Really enjoyed our wander there under the many gorgeous mature/large trees. The lovely wee chapel was moved to Trotts in two pieces from another site. Cycling tomorrow.Read more

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