Whareroa Farm

Harry went travelling - down to Dunedin, Oamaru, Timaru and ended the week in Christchurch. Did a bit of walking and took some photos.  Oamaru has quite a bit of Victorian design and some nice old buildings.
Christchurch CBD is still like a ghost town, but they are working hard to get things moving and trying to get life back to normality. Also took a walk through the botanic gardens with quite a few flowers in bloom.

Harry returned just in time for another exciting weekend.  On Saturday night we went to the Graduation of the students of the Performing Arts.  Very talented group of people - with some exceptional dancers - although we couldn't quite get the themes behind some of the modern dances - assuming there was one! On Sunday we had a chance to try out our new walking poles.  We went for a walk to Whareroa farm with a group of walkers that Margot has put us in touch with.  It was back to the area where I grew up.  The farm is just behind Paekakariki - managed by the Department of Conservation for a few decades - it is slowly being turned into a regenerating native forest.  It is a working sheep and cattle farm, but gives the public the opportunity to tramp, mountain bike, ride horses over hills and down dales while enjoying the views over the Kapiti coast. Its been farmed since the 1850 by a guy called Alexander MacKay (that's where MacKays crossing gets its name from) and was later a training and recuperation camp for US Marines fighting in the Pacific campaign in the second world war.  I used to go over the back of our house and find cutlery left by the Marines - what a pity I didn't keep them.  After the walk we went shopping for duvets and pillows. No photos cos a bit misty.