Monday 13th Mar (7 to 20 degrees)

Today was a driving day from Nelson to Hanmer Springs. We left Nelson in light rain and it continued as we headed inland and south. We stopped at a delightful, town called Murchison for coffee, did some more shopping and also read about a place that we could easily detour to, called Buller Gorge. Here there were several activities we could do and we all decided to do the walk over the longest swing-bridge in New Zealand. Rob also decided that when it came to returning, he would return on the “Supaman” Ride. We enjoyed the walk over on the swing-bridge which spanned the Buller River, followed by a lovely walk around the area where we crossed the White Creek fault line; the epicentre of the 1929 earthquake and the site where the ground was pushed 4.5 metres. We also saw the relics and remains of from the gold-mining era. Once we arrived back at the swing-bridge, Pat and I crossed back to the other side on the bridge, while Rob enjoyed his “Supaman” exploits, returning by flying high above the gorge! We continued our journey on towards Hanmer Springs and the rain increased and the temperature dropped. By the time we were settled into our accommodation the temperature was 7, it was still raining and the cloud was very low! Anyway we spent time exploring the town and later had dinner in town. By then the rain had stopped, we had blue skies and we could see the magnificent, near-by snow covered mountains.