Sheryll and I have been coming back to Naseby for holidays for over 10 years now. The first time was with all of the 3 children and we were booked into a Miners Cabin (which is basically 4 walls and a roof around a double bed) the guys were meant to be sleeping in a tent beside the Cabin. When we arrived it had been raining for about 3 hours and there was about 3 inches of water flowing through the site that the kids were meant to be camping on. Suffice to say that 4 of us top and [View Full Entry]

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MT BUSTER AND MT KYEBURN Last year when we were staying at Naseby one evening it turned very cold and we awoke the next morning to a dusting of snow on the Mt Ida ranges behind the Motorcamp, we looked up out topographical maps and tried to work out a way of getting closer to the snow. Mt Buster just in behind Naseby is where it all seemed to have happened, so we rugged up and headed off towards the Mt Ida Range to see how close we could get. On that occasion we stopped at the Little Kyeburn stream [View Full Entry]

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PANNING & DREDGING FOR GOLD AT NASEBY Naseby is a unique old gold mining town of about 86 permanent residents and about 280 homes of which most are holidays homes or as they are known in the South Island, Cribs. It was the location of a Gold Rush to the Hogburn stream in the 1860's and it was to here that my Gt gt Grandfather Charles Roberts came after leaving the goldfields of Victoria, Australia. My Gt Grandmother Ethel Gertrude Roberts was born nearby at Hamiltons in 1870, All that remains now of Hamiltons is a lonely cemetery high on the [View Full Entry]

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The Matukituki River drains from the Mt Aspiring area and enters Lake Wanaka just north of Glendhu Bay a very popular camping spot on the shores of Lake Wanaka.We decided to go for a drive to the end of the road and see how close we could get to Mt Aspiring. Not far from Wanaka we came across a station with the name "Tuohy's Farm" on it, this is Sheryll's maiden name and is not a common name in the South Island, her brother Peter had been in this area not too long ago and had met the owners, we [View Full Entry]

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WANANKA TO NASEBY VIA BENDIGO & THOMSON'S GORGE It was time to leave Wanaka and the restful time we had had at Nancy and Chris's it is s shame that we didn't get to see them as Nancy is in Dunedin with Chris while he awaits a triple bypass operation, we hope to take some time out while we are in Naseby and go across to Dunedin to see them. I think from Naseby it is only about one and a half hours to Dunedin. Nancy had said to take some veggies from their wonderful garden so we picked some silver [View Full Entry]

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The view from our window at the hostel was superb and we were both up early enough to see the sun rise over the ranges and bathe the lake with a soft pink glow. Mt John is about 800 m above the Village of Tekapo, the Mt John Observatory is operated by he Canterbury University and is at the very top. Apparently it is one of the few places in New Zealand where the atmosphere is clear enough and where there is no interference from the lights of a town to make it possible to view the stars by huge telescopes. [View Full Entry]

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Sheryll's flight was late in from Auckland, so I spent the spare time on the observation deck up on the roof of the Airport watching the flights arrive and depart as the sun went down over the Canterbury Plains was a wonderful site. The following morning we were up early and around the corner from the Hostel to the Moko Cafe for a big bowl of Muesli, with fresh fruit and yogurt and Latte all for $10. Into Pak n Save for a few supplies and back on State Highway 1 again, heading for Tinwald just out of Ashburton, where "The [View Full Entry]

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Some of you may know that I have a passion for vintage aircraft, in my early twenties I had my Private Pilots Licence, but that lapsed after I got married and was no longer able to afford to fly and pay a mortgage at the same time. I can still recall my Dad taking us to the Airshows at the RNZAF Airbase at Ohakea near Palmerston North, this was in the 60's - 70's and I recall that one of the first jet aircraft that the RNZAF had was a De Havilland Vampire, this was where I first saw the Vampire. [View Full Entry]

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Today was a rest day in Christchurch. Spent most of my time on a bike ride and a swim at Brighton Beach. Took Sammy to Brighton and parked him up there and then went for a ride on my Mountain Bike along a track that goes North to Spencer Park and then back via Bottle Lake forest to the carpark at Brighton. It has been so hot today so also had a swim in the surf. Off to the airport to pick up Sheryll this evening and then tomorrow we head of towards Lake Tekapo [View Full Entry]

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It was up early for the sailing at 08:25, we had to be in line by 07:25. I woke Mum to say goodbye and then Madge and I headed off towards Wellington along familiar highways of my childhood. McKay's crossing that notorious fatal accident railway crossing is now a flyover and apart from some roadworks near Paekakariki it was a good run till I caught up with the tail of the Wellington Motorway slow traffic, I thought is was only Auckland that had this problem. The Kaitaki ferry was already berthed and was bathed in sunshine. Not a breath of wind [View Full Entry]

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