Blue water & mushrooms

Day - 21 Tuesday 12th May 2009

Yet another cold clear night with a hard frost, but we didn't care in the slightest as we were even more warm and snug in Helen & David's lovely new house near Hokitika.

After a rather later than planned arrival yesterday, we enjoyed much socialising and a lovely meal – what a treat not to have to cook for ourselves or even wash up (the dishwasher took care of that).

A leisurely breakfast followed by a trip into town for Barbara and Helen to look at the greenstone (jade) shops. Jade almost grows on trees around here apparently!

Then after lunch, we were treated to a tour of the local sights, and wonderful they were too. Everywhere we go, it seems there is something totally different and fascinating to see, and Hokitika is no exception.

We went first to the Hokitika Gorge, where the Hokitika River escapes from the mountains before crossing the plains. Thrill seeker Barbara enjoyed her first view of the river and gorge from the chain suspension bridge and positively shrieked with excitement when I bounced onto the bridge!

And this is the view from the bridge, and the river really is this colour:

A short walk brought us out onto rocks above the bend in the river with a good view of the bridge:

And it seemed like a good place for a group photo with Helen & David:

And this friendly little fantail kept flying all around us:

And landed within inches (sorry, centimetres here) of us:

Next we got to see Dorothy Falls:

It's difficult to see the scale of the falls in this photo, but they were rather nice, and high enough that you really wouldn't want to fall from the top:

There were various attractive fungi:

And a lovely placid lake that the dogs really enjoyed:

Followed by a tour of the estate:

the mountains in the background may not be too easy to see in the above photo, but the blue mushroom was really fascinating, and quite rare we understand: