Ashburton and the Rakaia Gorge

After six nights at Weedon, catching up with friends and family, doing some exploring, it was time to move on.  So we joined the great morning exodus as caravans and motor homes packed up, started their motors and jockeyed for position at the dump station.  No doubt all those empty sites will be filled again by the afternoon.  It was a nice straight drive down SH1, and we drove over the longest bridge in New Zealand at 1.7km over the Rakaia River. 

Longest bridge in the country

I had to keep my wits about me, because just over the bridge is the Rakaia Salmon statue on the side of the road. 

The Rakaia Salmon

After a drive of 70km we arrived at the Ashburton NZMCA Park to stay the next two nights.  Too new to be in the current NZMCA book, Robin found the details in the APP.  Nice and roomy and built in an oval shape with parking on grass.

NZMCA Ashburton

Ashburton was settled in the 1850s and was named after Francis Baring, 3rd Baron Ashburton, who was a member of the Canterbury Association.  The settlers found the plains inhospitable, without trees and constantly buffeted by the continual north westerly winds.  The determined pioneers began working the plains and began producing wheat and other crops, and grazing sheep.  These days local farmers grow potatoes, corn and peas. A vegetable processing factory owned by Talley's is located on the northern outskirts of the town, and was built in 1996 to take advantage of the good soils and irrigation of the Ashburton district.

On Thursday morning we decided to go on an adventure, and explore the Rakai Gorge.  We made a picnic lunch, filled the thermos, and made sure we took along the sun screen and insect repellant too.  The beginning of the drive took us through paddocks of what we presumed to be blueberry bushes, and the eastern side of the Southern Alps loomed up beside us.

On our way to Rakaia Gorge

Originally we had thought we hadn't been this way, but when the scenery started to look familiar we remembered we had done this trip on our 2012 SI travels with our friends.  Stopping at the lookout gave us wonderful views of the river, the Rakaia River is another of Canterbury’s braided rivers.

View from the lookout

There is a carved Pou at the lookout which tells the story of the Taniwha of Raikaia.  According to Maori legend a taniwha river monster lives in the Rakaia Gorge.  His efforts to block the north west wind led to the narrowing of the river, when he brought down huge stones and boulders to halt the progress of the north west demon and imprison him.

Rakaia Gorge Taniwha Pou

With a name like Windwhistle, we just had to check this tiny settlement out so drove through Rakaia to do so.  All we could find was a small school and a garage.  It is located on State Highway 77 near the Rakaia Gorge.  Windwhistle's name comes from the way the wind sounds when the Canterbury north west wind blows.

The only business in this tiny place.

Then we returned to the Rakaia River for lunch, driving down onto the river bank to enjoy the wonderful views and people watch.  Some were frollicking in the river on their boards, others were walking along, still more were putting their boats in the river and departing with a hiss and a roar.  The bank across the river had rows of  different colours laid down,  always interesting to consider how these occurred.  And we watched as trucks, cars and caravans made their way across the two quite different bridges across the river, then slowly drove up the hill.

Interesting layers in the bank, and two bridging spanning the river

A car arrived from Environmental Canterbury and we watched as a young man went about taking many water samples and readings.  Not a bad place to work, is it, especially in the summer.

Taking water samples

On the way back we stopped off at Methven for a look around and an ice-cream.  This is an interesting place as it is on the edge of the Mount Hutt Ski Field, so in the winter this is a very busy place indeed.

This is a town of two pubs, the Blue Pub on one corner and the Brown Pub across the road on the other corner.  The Blue Pub seems to cater for the younger yuppy crowd.

The Blue Pub

The Brown Pub was built in 1923 to replace the former Canterbury Hotel which was destroyed by fire.    This pub seems to appeal to the blokes, it seems to me.

The Brown Pub

We enjoyed our “real fruit ice-creams” in the shady park. along with plenty of others with the same idea.  The ice-cream was so large I couldn't finish mine!

Ice cream time

It was a real “Blue Dome” day, fine and sunny, and we enjoyed a great day out.  That’s what caravan holidays are all about, exploring our beautiful country.