An early morning rainbow portended a beautiful day!We headed out after a late breakfast to explore the opposite end of the Opihi River trail where the river enters a gorge and offers a more challenging hike through the gorge with ladders, bridges and rocky scrambles. We reached the end of the road for us, because of a water crossing, too deep for our little car. We took off our shoes and hobbled over the cobble rocks to the other side, then found we needed to cross a much wider section of the river! We decided we’re too tenderfooted to attempt that crossing and as we donned our shoes back on solid ground a 4 wheel drive cruised past, through the ford and on to we assume the Gorge trailhead! Oh well, we still had a 2.5 mile section of trail along the river to explore.

The ford over a small section of the river that stopped us! At the beginning (or end) of the River Trail the native plantings are doing great! Yesterday we saw 2 volunteers (we assumed) with a small pickup truck, a water tank and a pump, watering the plantings along the trail! About one third of the River Trail is in shady forest.

We were grateful for the shade, as the temperature soared into the high 20’sC, that’s over 80F! We were glad to finish the 5 mile out and back hike and sit in the shade eating our picnic lunch! A short drive to our VRBO, a good wash of our sweat drenched clothes, hang them on the line and relax! After dinner we had a delightful dessert of ice cream, fresh raspberries and chocolate!

A cloudy morning that cleared up to a wonderful day. I took a short walk this morning towards town center and the small grocery store and did a little sightseeing on the way.

Hwy 79 T’s into Hwy 8 that runs through Fairlie. Hwy 8 is lined with trees planted in 1918 to commemorate “Peace from the Great War” and renamed Peace Avenue. This statue of a WW1 soldier is on Hwy 8 at the site of the railroad station from which the local boys boarded the train to their boot camps for the war. Some came home.

As the afternoon weather improved we decided to find and hike the easy Opihi River Trail that follows the river running parallel with Hwy 8.

The trail is being restored with native plantings in clearings. Along most of the length of the trail the river is obscured by trees and brush. The river had been stocked with Chinook salmon and brown trout in the 1900’s and is supposed to be good for fishing, although this summer it looks pretty low! We made it a round trip of 5 miles!

A relaxing evening, grilled lamb and veggies for dinner and a wonderful moon, looking full (but it’s not).

Robert was up early to get this shot of the sunrise on the mountains behind town, at the base of the Southern Alps!

The mountains are to the west of us, so the morning sun, rising over the
South Pacific lights them up!

Robert then took a short walk into town to check out the small grocery store.I have to make a confession, I’ve been laid up by Covid since Jan. 12, isolating from Robert and wearing a mask when in the car. So Robert has been taking the walks and pictures, except the walking we did yesterday on our travel day. It’s been a bad cold mostly, and I am improving! Robert had a day to himself and decided to drive the 15km to the nearby Lake Opuha, created by a dam in 1998. He hiked 5 miles along the lake in a strong wind under a sunny sky. I stayed home, rested and baked a tuna casserole for dinner.

The mountains seem much more impressive from this vantage point!

A real bonus here, fresh raspberries! This is just today’s pickings!

We had to leave the Beautiful Blue Cottage Beach Bach this morning and head inland to our next stop, the town of Fairlie. Our host gave us detailed notes for the drive, the Scenic Inland route, with mention of great cafe’s and lunch spots!

The inland route meandered through farming country and passed through several small towns. We stopped at one to have coffees and a scone and peruse the antique shop.

About half way through the drive we descended to the Rakaia River Gorge.

From a small viewpoint before we descended, you can see ‘braiding’ of the river cobblestones, eroded from the Mt. Hutt Range above, unfortunately obscured by the clouds.

A rest area at the gorge allowed access to the river, milky blue and fast-flowing. A small board walk on the edge gave a good vantage point for fishing, or sightseeing. Two bridges cross the river, with a rocky island in the center.

We drove up the other side of the river to a viewpoint, looking back at the gorge, one bridge is obscured by the rocky central island. Several reader boards tell the Maori story of a ‘Taniwha” (river monster) who used to live where the gorge is now. One day when he was away a demon personified as a nor’west wind came down the Rakaia river from the mountains and flattened the Taniwha’s property. When he returned he vowed to outwit the nor’west demon and brought huge stones and boulders down from the mountains to halt the progress of the demon. The result is that the course of the river narrowed so that it flows between 2 rock walls, and the rocky island is evidence of the Taniwha’s work.An interesting sidebar is that a town on the edge of the gorge is named ‘Windwhistle’, think it gets a little windy here  maybe?

We continued our journey and passed a sign for a waterfall, so of course we took the detour! The Kahekerua/Sharplin Falls Walking Track looked fairly new and well maintained by the Mt. Somers Walkways Society. We entered the beech forest with it’s black sooty mould on some trees, the scale insect anal tube ‘hairs’ on the trunks with the drops of sweet nectar, and the invasive wasps harvesting all that nutritious nectar. New bridges over the river make the trail easy and fun.

At the end of the trail there is a viewing platform for the falls which seems a long way away! The beech forest is lush and full of birdsong.

The river flowing under the bridge is better for closeups!

The waterfall hike was a great diversion with another hour of driving to our destination. We stopped for groceries and continued to our VRBO in Fairlie at the base of the Southern Alps.

The view to the back garden with apple and pear trees and raspberry bushes overflowing with the sweet jewels!

A beautiful colorful sunset in front of the house, with the crescent moon (looking full in the photo). Our last day at the Beach Cottage Blue Bach.