Gentle Giants of Loburn

Loburn is a small, rural community in North Canterbury. This peaceful little settlement has two schools, a hall, a holiday park and a domain. Although there aren't any shops in Loburn, Rangiora is only 10 kms away.

Loburn was named after John Macfarlane's sheep station, which was originally named Lowburn. The river flows between steep banks, so the river (or burn) was low.
Between 1914 and 1916 small orchards were planted in the area, which made it one of Canterbury's few fruit growing areas. Nowadays the local industries around Loburn are a cheese factory and orchards. The farms in the area include sheep, cattle and emus.

We stayed overnight behind the Rangiora Leigh Holiday park. The owners of the park, have put aside a special area for NZMCA members to use (for a small cost per person).

It was a stunning day when we arrived. We were the only ones there, although a caravan and bus had been left, while the owners were away.

Not long after arriving, Rob (the owner) came by with his tractor & mower. He whipped around the grass and in no time at all we had a freshly mown patch of lawn to spread out on.

Before: Lots of clover & lots of busy bees.

I noticed a sign saying 'River Access' so Oakly and I went for a walk. Boo wanted to stay at the bus with Bernie. And of course Bernie wanted a cuppa! 

Although it wasn't deep enough for a swim, it was enough to wet our ankles and cool us down. The wild flowers (a mixture of blue borage, poppies and daisies) growing along the riverbank were beautiful.

I'm always amazed at how some flowers can survive growing in shingle. I picked a bunch of these 'Californian Poppies' to put in the bus. Californian Poppies thrive is poor, stony or sandy soils and love a hot, dry climate. Their orangey-yellow petals open in the sun and close at night.

A few friendly Clydesdale horses were grazing in the paddock beside us. I love these draft horses' gentle natures and the feathering on their ankles, along with their giant hooves - such majestic creatures. 

As you may already know, Clydesdale horses are one of the largest horses in the world and were originally derived from the farm horses of Clydesdale  (a county in Scotland). They are an active horse with a high stepping action. Their primary role was being used for agriculture and haulage and are still used today for draught purposes. These gentle giants are also used for showing, riding and kept as pets for pleasure.
The most common colours are bay and brown, usually with a white face or 'blaze' and lots of white on the lower legs. One of the Clydesdale's most distinctive features is the silky feathering on the legs.

The Holiday Park was immaculate. The area near us was like a small village of permanent caravan and fifthwheel dwellings. Each was set up with a carport, outdoor decking and manicured gardens. Every property had paving and fences or a hedge partition, making the area look established and very well cared for.

As the sun began to set, Boo spotted a hare bobbing across the paddock and spent the rest of the night, glued to the window, on rabbit-watch. It was a peaceful place to stay - if you're looking for a spot that isn't crowded and one that you can put your feet up and relax, then I'm sure you'll enjoy staying here.

There's Boo keeping an eye on the comings and goings. And Oakly in the driver's seat taking it all in. It looks like there's a cracked window behind Oakly, but its actually a string of solar lights.

And on that note - speaking of solar lights, the day before we arrived at Loburn, we called into Rangiora for some supplies. Seeing a Bunnings store nearby, Bernie couldn't resist popping in for a look. Ten minutes later he appeared with some solar lights, not just a few, but 800 of them! He thought the bus needed brightening up at night! Really??? A little 7metre bus with 800 fairy lights, ... we were well lit up.

St Anne's Lagoon

This picturesque lagoon a few kilometres north of Cheviot is a great place to stop for a picnic or to stretch your legs.

The gravel roads runs along the lake and leads to an area you can park under mature trees.

The area had had a lot of rain recently so we stuck to the harder road and parked.

Another car wasn't so lucky and had gone onto a dirt road and got stuck. A guy in a Toyota happened to come along and tried unsuccessfully to tow the Ranger out. Eventually a winch was used and the owners of the Ranger were freed.

As per normal, Bernie boiled the jug and I went walking with Oakly and Boo. Yes - it's dog friendly.

It's hard to believe this lagoon can dry up. When we were there the lake was so full, the trees were surrounded in water.

In 2017, after three years of drought conditions, the lagoon completely dried up, which threatened the lives of thousands of eels. The local community, DOC, ECan (Environment Canterbury) and some school kids collected eels and transported them in drums, to be released in the Waiau River.

St Anne's Lagoon (Mata Kopae) is set in 40 hectares of beautiful parkland. The day we visited we didn't see any bird life, however it's known as a popular spot for bird watching. This wetland is home to many geese, swans and pukeko.

Opposite the lagoon is smaller pond smothered in weed. Luckily Boo managed to stay dry ... a few years ago as a pup Boo had seen weed similar to this in Blenheim and had mistaken it for grass. She started to bound across it and disappeared! Fortunately we were close by so Bernie reached in and scooped her out!

A Few Days in Hanmer Springs

We spent two days relaxing at the NZMCA park by the Hanmer Bridge, which is about 7kms from the village. In October when we had stayed I'd written a blog post of this little alpine village, so this post is about a couple of forest walks.

The morning started with a little fog slowly rising upward from the ground - unfortunately there was no spectacular sunrise.

There wasn't any movement in the campground. I'm guessing the campers must still have been snoozing. - smart move.

Before lunch I took the dogs for a walk along 'Dog Creek' (It's now named Dog Stream, but when I grew up in Hanmer we always called it 'Dog Creek'). There's something so therapeutic about this area. The scene was set with an astounding variety of every shade of green, the trees were full of bird song, plum trees scattered about were dripping in ripe fruit, rowan trees weighed down with an abundance of berries, the gentle bubbling water (free of toxic algae) ... it was incredibly peaceful and inviting.

I googled what the colour 'green' represents, this is what I discovered ...
'It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye'.
No wonder this place felt like the perfect tonic.

Plum trees smothered in plums (both red and green) were growing along the track. Remember the good old-fashioned wild apple trees with apples that had black spots, dimples and that sweet tasting russet? Those very trees were along the walk - the apples were crisp, juicy and ohhh so tasty!

Rowan trees were also dotted about, with prolific orangey-red berries bending branches with their weight - does that mean we're in for a harsh winter?

The tracks near Squirrel Lake were also stunning, and we were lucky enough to be there when the blackberries were ripe. It brought back childhood memories of eating so many blackberries our teeth had a purple tinge. 

It's an ideal area for dogs. So much space and places to explore. A huge open paddock near the lake gave the dogs a massive space to run around and chase each other.

Boo and her out of control ears.

Worth a try ...but "No Paddy, you can't swim in that lake".

Fifty shades of green.

I couldn't leave Hanmer without a photo of the Waiau Ferry Bridge. I was hoping to get one with sunset colours but the sky didn't play its part, instead it remained plain grey - maybe next time?

Balmoral - North Canterbury

After leaving Weedons (just south of Christchurch) the plan was to stay a couple of nights at Amberley Beach on our way to Hanmer Springs. We'd stayed at Amberley Beach four months ago and really enjoyed it. So we were surprised (and disappointed) when we pulled into the camping area to discover it had gone from being well maintained to run-down. The grass was no longer green, instead it was dry, dusty patch of ground. It was so uninviting we decided not to bother. Instead - we drove half an hour further north to the Balmoral Reserve.

We found a place to park up just to the left of the entrance. Being nice and private it suited us perfectly. With a relaxing outlook of trees we settled in for a peaceful evening.
Then as the sun began setting we witnessed another of nature's spectacular performances. It seemed as though the sky was presenting its very own show - starting with pastel lemon hues, which quickly transformed to a golden saffron-yellow before ending in a grand finale of blazing fiery orange. Heaven's impressive light show was further enhanced by the striking ever-changing cloud formations.