Lilys and a Bus Roll Roll

Today I am linking up with Favourite things Friday over at A few of my Favourite Things, be sure to pop over and check out all of the great links!

I love my husband

He is so thoughtful and caring and he likes to make me happy!

Last Friday he bought me flowers and the new Michael Buble CD just because.......

In New Zealand at the Red Beret Cafe in Motueka I bought this Bus Roll Tea towel

We visited a few of the towns that are listed

Unfortunately we didn't get to them all

but I still thought it would make a great souvenir that was easy to pack

I wasn't sure what to do with it when I got home

but then I had an idea

so on my day off I experimented with my sewing machine and some left over canvas

and made a bus roll roll.

I love lilys

These last photos were taken tonight

Most of the lilys have opened up and will last for another week or more if I am lucky!

xx

New Zealand Day 8

Day 8 – Saturday 8th May 2010

It rained and rained all day today. We drove through Arthurs Pass and despite the bad weather we saw lots of beautiful scenery, we just didn’t get out of the car to take any photos. I am not sure that the photos would have turned out so good even if we tried!

The road through Arthurs Pass is the Alpine Highway and we travelled through Castle Hill Village (it was at this stage of the trip that we realised we were running short on fuel). We discovered that Castle Hill Village was purely a small Ski Resort/Village with chalets and not much else.

As we travelled further and further we started to pray for the fuel to last until we arrived at a petrol station. Not that running out of fuel would have been the worst thing to happen it really wouldn’t have been very pleasurable!

Thankfully we arrived at Arthurs Pass, another cute touristy town in the alps and an ideal base for those wanting to snow ski! Here we finally found a petrol bowser, just the one in front of the cafe/tourist centre/rest stop. We had to go in and leave our credit card with the people behind the counter before we could put fuel in and unfortunately a bus full of tourists had just arrived and the line was huge!!!

After paying an excessive amount for our fuel, drinking coffee, using the rest rooms and grabbing even more brochures, we were finally on the road again!

Not far out of Arthurs Pass there are some amazing views, the Via ducts are definitely worth stopping to see (sorry no photo) and we did manage to stop and get a photo of this old bridge near some old mines. You can look closer at the mines but we didn’t, too wet and cold!

The surprising thing about this day was that it was the most excited I had seen Nicholas during our driving. He was absolutely enthralled with all of the water! The rivers were gushing and the plains were flooded in places and he couldn’t get over the amount of water everywhere! After thinking about it a bit I realised that parts of Australia have been n drought for most of the last 10 years so he really hasn’t seen a lot of water in rivers or in fields. He hasn’t had the opportunity to play under the sprinkler or the hose for the last 6 years so he really doesn’t remember anything different!!

Our plan had been to head straight for the west coast however the highway had flooded and the road was closed so we detoured slightly and travelled north to Greymouth and then down along the coast to Franz Josef.

We stopped in Hokitika for a late lunch and a look around. We were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of Mt Cook for the first time when the clouds cleared and it was an awesome sight. Standing at the beach looking at the highest Mountain in New Zealand in all its snow covered glory!

Hokitika is home to some of New Zealand’s finest jade, there are many stores to browse through and lots of beautiful jewellery to admire or purchase!

The coastal road was lovely and the weather had cleared up.

We arrived at Franz Josef in the late afternoon and decided to stop for the night.

Springfield to Franz Josef 356kms

xx

New Zealand Day 7

New Zealand Day 7 – Friday 7th May 2010

This morning we woke up to this view. Everything was so peaceful and quiet and we could hear the water trickling and only very occasionally would a car go by.

Not far from where we slept that night we pulled off the road into a lookout. The clouds happened to part and we snapped this shot. Then the clouds covered it all back up! We stopped for a second breakfast at Murschison (only meant to be a coffee stop but the food looked very tempting).

We stopped and enjoyed the beautiful view at Maruia Falls Scenic Reserve.

We drove along in this amazing valley with the river bed down below us and mountains towering up either side of us. Photos just don’t do it justice, the scale of the mountains and the riverbed and the plains are amazing! We arrived at Hanmer Springs late morning and headed straight to the thermal pools! The thermal pools are natural hot springs that bubble up from the ground. The hot water is diverted into different pools, mixed with cold water to create different temperature pools to choose from. The hottest pool was 41°C. Most of the pools were outdoors and ranged in size from lap pool to small spa size pool seating 8. The water is full of minerals and due to the sulphur some of the pools are quite smelly!

We chose to book a private pool for ½ hour. The private pools are located inside with each private room containing a sunken bath and a shower. On wall of the room was made entirely of glass and looked out into a private garden. Nicholas opted to go on the water slides so he went his way while we sat in the warm thermal water and soaked away our sore muscles.

The pools had a great set up, even though we were there out of season and Nicholas was one of only 10 kids there while we were there. Lifeguards were supervising each pool and the cafe served fantastic meals. WH and I sat down to lunch while Nicholas continued to swim and splash (we got him takeaway as we left). We figured that he deserved to run around as much as he could while he had the chance. If you ever visit I highly recommend the pizzas, they were fantastic!

We continued on the road back towards Christchurch and skirted round the city to head west through Arthurs Pass.

Towards evening it got overcast and started to sprinkle on and off! We arrived in Springfield and stayed in a motorhome park. This was the most basic park we stayed in and the cheapest! However it was clean and we had power to recharge the batteries!

Murchison to Springfield 335kms

Hope you all have had a great weekend. Yesterday was my blogiversary and I am going to celebrate with a giveaway! Pop back tomorrow for all the details!

xx

New Zealand Day 6

Day 6 – Thursday 6th May 2010

This morning was an early start as our tour left at 6.30am. The Farewell Spit is 26klm long above sea level and is only the first 4 klms is accessible to the public. The tour we booked to go on is only one of two tour companies able to access the spit. Given access to the spit is determined by the tides the tours are not run as often in the winter season due to the shorter day light hours available. The tour company changes the tour time in line with the tide.

NASA satellite image of Farewell Spit

The early start was hard, we travelled 20kms to the Spit and I struggled to stay awake on the bus but we arrived and the sunrise was worth it.

It was very cold though.

The bus was designed to drive on the sand and coped really well. Our guide was excellent and he pointed out different birds as e travelled. The spit is a Sea Bird and wildlife reserve managed by the New Zealand Department of conservation.

The sand dunes were huge and move about 7 metres a year. Nicholas had great fun sliding down them (I confess I must be so unfit because we hardly walked on them at all and my calf muscles were sore the next day).

After playing on the dunes we drove to Cape farewell and watched some fur seals frolic around in the water. I kept an eye on the ocean hoping I may spot a whale but no such luck!

The tour took 6 and a half hours so we arrived back in Collingwood in time for lunch. We ate at the tavern and then grabbed an ice cream (best value ice creams around and they were yummy too!) for the road.

We had to double back the way we had come for the next stage of our trip so we tried to make up a bit for lost time. We drove back over Takaka Hill to Motueka and this is where we turned towards Murchison.

This was my absolute favourite scenery of the trip and if ever possible I would buy a holiday house in this part of New Zealand.

The river ran alongside the road and we passed vineyards and orchards with gorgeous houses. The colours were magnificent with reds, yellows and greens. The river beds are rock covered so the water is so clear and inviting. I am disappointed that we didn’t stop to take photos along the way in this area but you will just have to believe me, it was gorgeous!

We started to run out of daylight so we stopped for the night in a recreation area off the road and near the river, about 30kms out of Murchison. Collingwood to Murchison 214kms

xx

New Zealand - Day Five

Day 5 - Wednesday 5th May 2010 Time to wake up and enjoy the view........

We stayed off the side of a road at a lookout in Nelson. It took us a while to find but was well worth it! Today we had to get to Collingwood so that we could take the Farewell Spit tour tomorrow morning. Motueka was a lovely little town along the way and we enjoyed wandering through.

The Gothic Restaurant was interesting and I loved the scale of their outdoor table!

I had to include some sheep! This is on the way up Takaka Hill.

WH had been to NZ the year before we got married as his parents lived in Collingwood for six months so he was somewhat familiar with the area. I had been warned that we would be travelling over Takaka Hill, climbing almost 791 metres from sea level and back down again. This was also the first place we had visited so far where the Lord of the Rings Trilogy had been filmed. We took the three movies with us and watched a bit on the laptop each night as we travelled!

Takaka itself is on the other side of the hill and the countryside is beautiful. It was one of my favourite areas that we went through.

The town was so pretty; I loved how all of the shops had hanging baskets full of gorgeous flowers!

After lunch we made our way to PuPu Springs. The water is amazingly clear! It is estimated that 14,000 litres of water are produced per second, approximately enough to fill 40 bathtubs. You are not allowed to touch the water as any contact could contaminate it.

We arrived in Collingwood with enough daylight left to grab an ice cream and have a walk around. Collingwood is a very pretty little town right on the water.

Nelson to Collingwood (133 klms)

Thank you to everyone who has been reading about our travels, it is really lovely to read your comments! xx