Hi folks, The weather was cooler than it has been first thing and it was raining.. There was low cloud over the hills and mountains which slowed us down as the roads are narrow and twisty.Another busy day that started with a drive from Nelson to Punakaiki via Merchison where we got petrol Roger thought he had to spend another 4 $ to get 4 cents a litre off, so he spent 4$ then went to pay for the petrol and the guy said it had to be in one transaction. Roger was not amused. We stopped to have coffee in the Buller Gorge, which was beautiful, our only critism is that there were not many stopping places and the ones that did exist did not have very good views. We arrived at Charleston earlier than we expected as the weather cleared up. While we waited for a small train to take us up to the Nile River through the forest, we went into a small and somewhat delapidated jade workshop and shop. The guy had a fscinating collection of uncut jade. He is the third generation of jade cutters in his family and has pieces of uncut jade that his father and grandfather found. We spent an interesting hour listening to him and I bought a pair of earrings - local jade, carved by a local. As we were leaving he got on to stool and cut us down 2 big bunches of grapes that were growing in his conservayory/workshop. He had a beautiful lump of uncut jade on a iron stand that he had found up in the mountains that was worth 30k$ American. Next to this valuable piece of jade was a hole in the wall where at least one whole panel was missing. He had many other pieces of jade worth a great deal of money as well. We asked if he was worried about people stealing them, he said he a gun! We got a quick sandwhich from the cafe which is part of the set up that runs the train up through the forest to the River Nile. We had a 5 minute bus ride up to the train. We saw the most amazing limestone river cliffs. Once on the train it took about 15 minutes to get to the end of the track an then we had a 5 minute walk to the swing bridge across the river. We took a few photographs and then headed back to get the train After about 15 minutes of the train driver taking carriges off and shunting them back and forth, changing the engine we started the return journey. I have to say that the Buller Gorge, Charleston and the forest were biting insect ridden. I sprayed the car with fly killer when we got out, we smothered ourselves in anti bite spray and wore long sleeves and trousers but we still felt we were being eaten alive. I havent noticed any bites but I, m still on the look out. Travelling on Roger had found a bead shop for me, however, when we got there it was down a very narrow track and was closed. We then headed for Punakaika where theer are some very interesting coastal rock features called the Pancake rocks. They were were amazing! Then on to the hotel at Punakaika and a very nice meal accompanied by a bottle of NZ bubbly - delicious. Bye for now.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 09:11:22 +0000
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