Seaweed and Sheep

After our friends Mike and Nancy went back to SF Rich and I rented a car to head up north on the South Island. We wanted to hike and visit the wine country. The areas of New Zealand that have only one main road are not the best for bicycle touring so we decided that a car was the way to go. And we wanted to hike. To get to many of the hikes you have to drive up dirt roads and park on or near private farms or ranches.



These majestic looking sheep were guardians at the trail head of a hike we did up to SawCut gorge. The trail is just a walk up the river, in the river, with an occasional scramble over bigger boulders. The gorge is beautiful and can only be walked through during low water times.



Rich went for a chilly swim au natural, I stayed on the river bank taking photos.



New Zealand is just lousy with great walks, hikes, and tramps of varying length, vistas, and weather. One particular favorite was along the shore of the Kaikoura Peninsula. If you walk the shore around low tide you can make it past all the bluffs at water level - you will be sharing the rocks with red beaked gulls and fur seals, both of which will feel threatened if you get too close. The gulls retaliate by dive bombing you, the fur seals retaliate by scaring the pants off you as what you thought was a rock barks and makes a dash for the water.



The varieties of seaweed along the walk were amazing,





And of course it was New Zealand so there were sheep on this walk as well.



The sign says it all, watch out for sheep everywhere.



We're in Australia now, with our bikes, and after five days in Melbourne we're heading off to Victoria's High Country and then to Sydney.