The road turned inland at Oaro and it was back to several miles of climbing and descending hills and I was hoping this wasn't going to be the case for Tony for the remainder of the day. Happily, however, once we reached the plain the roads were straight and wide. It was certainly wine country and we passed several estates and countless acres of vines in a very short distance. We had decided to break the journey with a walk from the NZFrenzy book to view some ancient Maori rock art.
We turned off at Waipara and drove north west up the Weka Pass to Waikari where we had an unpleasant lunch - I won't be trying stuffed sausage again - before heading along the disused railtrack and then up over a couple of steep hills, dotted with limestone outcrops and looking remarkably like the Yorkshire Dales on a grander scale.
These limestone formations were huge though and there were also reef slabs which we don't have at home. Eventually we topped a hill and spotted the sacred slab beneath us.
The drawings were all under an immense overhang which ran the length of the limestone slab. Some earlier Museum Director had ordered that some of the paintings be coloured in to make them stand out more which made them look more like modern graffiti!! Tony 'got his eye in' and spotted some drawings which had thankfully remained untouched and were more reflective of their age and significance.
We poddled around the slab for a while and then retraced our steps. There would have been terrific views of the landscape of this part of New Zealand would the weather have been kinder.
Back in Waikari we took a look at the Weka Pass railway which I guess was the equivalent of our Haworth Railway back home.
In many ways the landscape looks very English but it is on a much grander scale. Obviously the acres of grape vines are very different and also the planting of high, thick hedges and trees as animal shelters and windbreaks are not seen at home. We had a better cuppa and Tony had a yoyo (a very large biscuit filled with custard and jam which he pronounced as delicious) at May's Cafe as an alternative to the first place, then we were back on the road and down some remarkably long and straight roads through Amberley, Rangiora and Oxford where the landscape began to look very Scottish and the earlier settlers must have thought so too because several of the place names were prefixed with 'Glen' and 'Ben'.
Amazingly the long straight road suddenly disappeared into a steep, twisty gorge - Rakaia Gorge, which again would have made for a spectacular photo if the weather had been kinder.
We climbed out of the Gorge and soon arrived here at our destination, Methven. The woman at the I-Site was very helpful, as they have all been, and we soon found the Methven Camping Ground and were met by Mark, the owner/manager (?), an extremely friendly chap who had visited Yorkshire the previous year and so we had a chat about motorhomes and driving in the UK and rugby, and he told us to pay when we left.
The facilities are comical compared to the glossy sites we have been on recently. The lounge and kitchen are a collection of haphazard bits of furniture and equipment. The site was created in the seventies and hasn't moved on but it reflects the personality of its host and it has a comfortable, homely feel (I love the rugs in the ladies loos!) It also has all we need for our two night stay (NZD32 for one night for two people). We chatted with two Spanish cyclists who we had passed earlier on the road. They are spending three months in NZ, three months in Australia and then three months in Asia, all on their bikes! And now it's bedtime and we are looking forward to our trip in the six-wheeler to some Lord of the Rings locations tomorrow!
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