February 11, 2014
From the beach we set off on our hike, starting with a climb up the grassy hill until we located the trail. These types of walks look deceptively easy, a pleasant climb up a grassy slope. But beneath the grass the ground can be uneven, a combination of old paths formed by livestock and, mostly likely, petrified cow patties. It wouldn’t be hard to turn an ankle on this sort of climb; so it’s always a relief to get to a beaten path.
As we climbed higher, we enjoyed the changing views of our anchorage and the impressive view once we reached the trail near the top of the ridge. Below, a gallery of photos…
Plus panoramas of our beach, the outer part of our bay, and the entire bay…
As we made our way further into the harbor area, we found ourselves surrounded by Middle Earth-like scenery full of lumpy green grass hills, scattered small boulders, and large, gnarled trees. I felt like we’d found the Shire from the Lord of the Rings movies! In all our time in New Zealand we’ve never seen a landscape quite like this. Below, a gallery of photos from our walk (click to enlarge any photo in the galleries).
We continued walking all the way to Squadron Bay, admiring stunning views of beautiful Te Kouma Harbour and enjoying the chirping cicadas, nature’s frequent soundtrack during summer afternoons in New Zealand. Below, a couple of panoramas of Te Kouma Harbour.
And a photo gallery of the harbor as we neared Squadron Bay, pretty in a mountainous, pine forested way. We weren’t sure, but maybe we’d bring the boat over there in the evening.
Meanwhile, we enjoyed the walk back to our bay. This turned out to be quite a special hike.–Cyndi
