Riversdale Beach and Castle Point

Here are a few photos from the bach (Riversdale Beach) and the lighthouse and area around the ocean town of Castle Point

Here are a few Photos from our Labour Day Weekend Away...
These pixs are from Cape Palliser and the Seal Colony.

Labour Day weekend in NZ- Cape Palliser and More

Hi Everyone-
We have just returned from our long weeknd away to Cape Palliser, Pinnacles, Riversdale Beach and Castlepoint and before I forget all that we id and saw I best get it down on our blog. Can you beleive we saw all 4 places in just 3 days. We did a lot of driving but it was fun to stop everyone once and a while and take about 50 pix!! We packed up the car on Saturday moring and went to meet the other couples that were joining us on the road trip.
Our first stop was in Cape Palliser, where there was a lighthouse, we had to climb up 258 steeps steps to reach the top. At the top we had a great view, but it was very windy...what is new in this country. Next we drove down the road a bit to a seal colony. It was very neat to see and they were a lot bigger than I thought they would be. Some were even just lying on the grass right by the raod. There were lots of fishing boats around as well.
Next we drove down the raod to the Pinnacles. The sky was looking a bit black but we all decided that we came this far we could not miss the chance of seeing the Pinnacles. So we had about a 2 hr hike UP HILL to view the Pinnacles. Well let me tell you- we were not very prepared, we had no water and were dressed like it could snow. Needles to say we were very hot and thursty but we made it to the top with many "should we turn back" Once at the top it was well worth it. The pix do not do justice to the actual stunning rock formations. The way down was much better the and the rain felt nice on our hot bodies.
After the hike we needed a much deserved lunch. We drove to Lake Ferry and enjoyed some fish n chips and Mussel chowder.
And that is not all- we continued on to Riversdale Beach where the 6 of us had retned a bach (cottage) for the next 2 days. We arrive to this massive farm with cows and sheep and lambs...what a place. We had the best view of the ocean and we also had the beach to our self. It was a bit cold but that did not stop me from geting a the wet suit and searching for some Paua for diner. I found 2 but Scott said they were too small so we had to throw them back in. The people that we retned the bach from let us use their jeep and we drove around on the beach and through there hecters of farm land searching for all the baby lambs we could find. The lambs were a bit scared of us so we could not get very close to them.
We all enjoyed the couple of days at the bach and then headed to our last destination before returing to Wellington. We stopped off at Castlepoint- North of Wellington. This small ocean town had another lighthouse. So that is our Labour Day weekend in a nut shell.

These photos are from our 3rd trip up north to the ski moutain. We finally had nice weather and got in some really great skiing. I am very pleased with the way Scott has been picking up the sport so fast. You never know he could be skiing for New Zealand in 2010.