Sunday hike in the Wither Hills Farm Park

Fortunately, we're getting back to a normal sleep schedule. Susan "slept in" until 6AM, and Mike was up by 6:30. This was a record good night's sleep for us so far.



There was more rain this morning so Susan did some house-cleaning. At about 10AM the rain stopped and the sun came out, so we decided to do a short hike in the Wither Hills Farm Park near Blenheim. These hills are the view to the south from our house.

We decided to walk to the trail-head instead of driving, so we ended up walking and hiking a total of 12.25 kilometers (7.6 miles). We hiked up to the Mt Vernon viewpoint and it was steep and sometimes muddy. It started out very cool, but we were working so hard we quickly had to shed a layer and our jackets. We gained almost 1,100 feet in less than 2 miles, but there was plenty of oxygen compared to where we usually hike!



Click this link or the slideshow above for larger images.

The views were great and well worth the effort! We especially enjoyed seeing the waters of Cloudy Bay, the Wairau Bar and the mouth of the Wairau River. Lots of cow pies on the trail, but only 1 person (on a mountain bike) on the way up. A few more folks showed up as we went down, but also some clouds showed up so we congratulated ourselves on getting the better views in the morning. We walked to the trailhead all the way on Redwood Street, but took the Sutherland Stream Trail on the way home, which was a superior route with less traffic. A nice guy driving by saw us looking at our map and asked if we were lost. So much for looking local.



Mike got to see and shoot his first Skylark. Other birds on this hike include the Masked Lapwing, California Quail, Grackle, Song Thrush, Silvereyes, gulls, sparrows and ubiquitous Australian harrier hawks. We also took some photos on the way home of flora. Lots of unusual plants and beautiful flowers. We can’t wait to see the gardens in Christchurch!



We got home, had some wine and cheese, showered and then finished off the leftovers from yesterday, now morphed into beef soup. As we ate, the rain started up again and we were very happy to have squeezed in this hike in the best part of the day!