My 3 roommates left at 7, and I wasn't far behind at 7:30. Say goodbye to the "hut":
which was a nice house with well-stocked kitchen/cooking facilities, showers/bathrooms, and beds for (at least) 10 people.
Sometimes you just have to follow the footsteps in front of you:
I took the side-trail to Fantail Falls:
It wasn't worth it:
Another "falls" was also disappointing, but the cascade area (at 9 AM) was pretty cool:
Sometimes the path is beautiful with wildflowers:
and sometime you are hiking in the jungle!
The one constant is that the morning track goes up up up through the valley:
with occasional "break-out" views of the hillsides.
Looking back, they designed a very nice walkway over a creek:
Hey, I'm willing to take the "7 minute" chance to the "pond and view":
The pond was not-so-great:
BUT THE VIEW WAS AWESOME!
That bay WAY DOWN THERE is where I started this morning!
I don't know - maybe these trails could use just a little "weed wacker"??:
Coming up to my lunch spot, and the eventual saddle over the ridge, I get a beautiful view of Stony Bay Peak (on the left) and Purple Peak (on the right) [I think Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran would leave out the car park, however]:
I left before them, but because of my "waterfall sidetracks", I wound up catching up with the six Australian women ("Moms On Holiday") for a lunchtime view of the Banks peninsula Track:
Once I went up over the Saddle:
it was a BEAUTIFUL VIEW down into Akaroa and Akaroa Bay:
A fun hike going down:
And a Great View looking back over-and-up at Purple Peak:
I passed a few people out, going up for a day hike:
Back down to pick up my parked car, then down to the Blythcliffe, where I surprised my Beautiful Bride by being home A DAY EARLY! Had a nice afternoon rest, then we grabbed the car and went over the hills to Hickory Bay. Before this trip, I hit "NZ Surf Guide" to see which beaches they thought were good - maybe the Dixons could visit them! Online, Hickory Bay looked pretty cool [click here for their webpage], so off we went. Although the road to the peak was two-lanes/paved, the road down to Hickory Bay was dirt, with the last 5 kilometers only as wide as our car (WITH A CLIFF ON WENDY'S SIDE!!):
After hiking the last kilometer (the road stopped), we got to one of the most Beautiful Bays That I Have Ever Seen:
To give you a sense of scale, I have zoomed-in on the surfer:
We made it back to the Blythcliffe in one piece, and had a wonderful dinner, then a quick stroll around town before heading to bed. (I feel guilty - Wendy is already DAYS ahead of me on her Facebook postings!!) Thank you God for This Great Adventure!
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