After the penguins at Oamaru, it was hard to imagine what would come next in our New Zealand adventure. The answer was Waikawa! We had a fabulous little cottage overlooking an estuary. There was another cottage and a lodge and perhaps another accommodation spot, a museum (which had a phone available for local calls), a firehouse and a lot of sheep and some cows.
So for two days we vegged and sewed and painted, went on some short walks and had a great time in our little hideaway. The view was always changing, with clouds and rain and sun and the tide. Saw some people and some birds walk across the estuary.
A brief note that en route to Waikawa we stopped at a lovely walk-in to Purakaunui Falls but we missed the Niagara Falls (of NZ).
Today we drove along the Southern Scenic Route and got within a stone’s throw of the southernmost point of New Zealand at Slope Point. We also saw petrified forest of the Jurassic Era at Curio Bay and a lighthouse. Most of that road was large gravel-covered and being widened. There’s not much out there but spectacular views and a lot of sheep!
When we turned northward, it was to find the Maple Glen garden and nursery where we spent a couple hours gawking at a most beautifully designed and maintained garden and grounds. Anything you’ve ever read about in garden design books – the beckoning vista at the end of a path, the ponds, the pockets of trees, the larger scenes which lead you onward, the small surprises which reward careful viewing – it was all there. Rhododendrons, azaleas, bluebells, narcissus, all sorts of flowers new to me, hellebores, passionflowers you name it. Everywhere birds were singing and bees were buzzing and people were enjoying the wonder of it all.
Photos to come as bandwidth permits! Here’s TeapotLand in Owaka:
