Central Plateau, North Island

Central Plateau, North Island
View from a friend's farm

Saturday 10 March 2018

From the East towards the West

This morning we left Oamaru,a cool start to the day. Our destination was Springfield.

We started at the lower arrow, left side, from  Oamaru, went to the second arrow,Methven, and finished at the third arrow at Springfield. An easy 255 km,  or  158 miles, Maybe the easiest  distance of any day so far.

Tomorrow we go to the left hand-side arrows, at Westport.

South Island map with more arrows

We drove over the Rakaia River, one of the most heavily braided rivers in New Zealand.  A river very popular  for jet boats, trout fishermen, and tourists.  At last, a good safe place to stop for some photos.The teal colour is how it is, details below courtesy of the internet.

The Rakaia and Rangitātā are the only two major rivers in New Zealand that originate from high-altitude glacier-dominated mountain sources. They flow more than 100 kilometres across the Canterbury Plains to the sea. The mean annual flow in the Rakaia is 221 cumecs (cubic metres per second), but it is estimated that by 2018 it may be as low as 76 cumecs, because of water taken for irrigation. During a flood, it can be as high as 3,700 cumecs.

The Mighty Rakaia River #1

The Mighty Rakaia River #2


The Mighty Rakaia River #4

The Mighty Rakaia River #5

If you look closely, there is a jet boat in the centre, travelling up the river.

Rakaia river and the jet boat

We arrived at our motel in Springfield after some “ Pics on the road”!!

Mt Hutt Ski Fields in the distance

Mt Hutt ski fields in the far distance.

One of the staff here, just looking , but not at me.

Springfield Alpaca, just looking.

Latish evening shot, roses ,poles, and mountains in the distance.

Springfield roses, power poles and mountains

Quotation of the day, from Steven Wright,

“ Everything is within walking distance

if you have the time”

Greetings from Jean.

8 comments:

Julie Fukuda said...

Lovely pictures. Nice to see all that blue sky too. Safe travels ....

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

What a beautiful place to visit! I'd be out of my car taking pictures too, and holding up traffic!

Continued safe travels, and fun meetings like the llama and Salt and Pepper too of course!

eileeninmd said...

Hello Jean, wonderful images from your trip! I like the glacier colored water of the river. Is that a alpaca or llama, either way it is cute. Pretty views and photos. Enjoy your trip! Have a great day and week ahead.

Jenn Jilks said...

You live in an amazing part of the world. I wish it were closer! Just amazing. Safe travels! xx

Carol Mattingly said...

So beautiful New Zealand. Sounds like you are having a fabulous trip. Enjoy your travels away from home. Carol

Sandra Walker said...

You two are sure covering the miles and seeing so many interesting things! The colour of the Rakaia River reminds me of Peyto Lake in Banff National Park! I wonder if it's because both are glacier fed, and perhaps have similar bottoms? Love the pic of the 'staff' LOL!

Mystic Quilter said...

Your post takes me way back Jean. We used to love visiting the Rakaia river and yes it always was that beautiful colour. Mt Hutt too is a lovely memory of a weekend being introduced to skiing by friends in 1982!! Safe trip.

Carol Mattingly said...

Do you think I'll see foxy soon? Just checking in. Carol